CARICOM: Sanctions against Russia rest with individual nations
Published:Thursday | March 3, 2022 | 12:11 AMKimone Francis/Senior Staff Reporter
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has left the possible imposition of sanctions on Russia to individual member states following hours of intense deliberation on the second day of the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government in Belize.
The decision comes amid an avalanche of sanctions from the European Union and the United States, including the banning of Russian flights from airspace, the shutout from the global payment system, and the freezing of state and personal assets.
“We discussed the issue of Russia at length ... . CARICOM felt that that is something we should do as individual countries,” chairman of the regional bloc, John Antonio Briceño, said in response to a Gleaner question during a CARICOM Summit press conference Wednesday evening.
“We have to decide what kind of sanctions, if any, we can take as countries and not as CARICOM.”
Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine last Thursday, CARICOM issued a statement condemning the move, noting that Russia's hostilities ran counter to the principles of respect for sovereignty.
The conflict between the two European countries first reached crisis proportions in 2014 with Russia's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula after the ousting of a pro-Moscow president.
Pressed by The Gleaner on CARICOM's plans to assist member states absorb the economic shock from the war, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley noted that the road ahead will be tough for the region. Russia supplies more than 10 per cent of the world's oil, and combined with Ukraine, produce 30 per cent of global wheat. Ukraine and Russia are also major source markets for corn and soya.
Mottley said regional heads of government agreed on Wednesday to establish a CARICOM economic recovery transformation subcommittee that would include the Caribbean Development Bank, the CARICOM Development Fund, and the CARICOM Commission on Economy.
Mottley, who chairs the committee, said leaders have recognised that the multiplicity of issues will present “tremendous difficulties and challenges” to the region.
“The increase in energy prices is clearly going to be a challenge for us, but I also expressed concern with respect to freight cost and the supply chain,” said Mottley.
Russia's weeklong invasion of Ukraine has caused the price of fuel to shoot to the highest in nearly a decade and has further imperilled global supply-chain woes. That is expected to exacerbate inflation and suppress growth.
Mottley urged member states to urgently increase food production to cushion the imminent fallout from the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“We recognise that equally, we have to continue engagement with the international financial institutions as well,” said Mottley.
“Let us be clear: We in the region have increased our debt largely as a result of us fighting this climate crisis. It has, therefore, left us less capable of absorbing the shocks with respect to this war in Ukraine than we might otherwise be.”
She said that it was critical for CARICOM to raise with international financial institutions and G20 countries the extent to which the climate crisis facing the region has derailed it from its development trajectory and the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals, including the elimination of hunger and poverty.
“So to that extent, it's going to be a difficult and challenging period, but it is not impossible for us to do the things that can boost economic activity,” said Mottley.