Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are currently meeting in Jamaica to review regional foreign policy and community governance matters. The two-day Meeting, which began yesterday, will be chaired by Jamaica’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Kamina Johnson Smith.
This 26th Meeting of the CARICOM Council Foreign and Community Relations will tackle a packed agenda including relations with India, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba, and bilateral relations engagements CARICOM and the USA, Africa, Dominica Republic, and the Central America Integration System (SICA).
The Ministers will also discuss the situation in Haiti, and matters pertaining to the United Nations (UN) including UN Security Council Reform and CARICOM’s engagement in the Permanent Forum of People of African Descent.
There are several upcoming High-Level Meetings on the international agenda in which CARICOM will be involved such as the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development and the SDGs Summit. The Foreign Ministers will look at those as well as matters on the hemispheric agenda in the context of the Organisation of American States (OAS), Latin American and Caribbean States, and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.
The COFCOR will engage with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and the Secretariat of State from Spain.
Following the COFCOR meeting, Foreign Ministers will join their counterpart from the United Kingdom (UK) for the 11th UK-Caribbean Forum.
Senator Johnson Smith said Jamaica will co-chair the meeting she described as the “foremost mechanism for political consultation between the United Kingdom and the Members States of CARIFORUM.”
Cuba traditionally participates in the Forum in an observer capacity, the Senator noted.
She said the Meeting will take stock of the progress in the implementation of the Tenth UK-Caribbean Forum Action Plan. It will also advance discussions on deeper cooperation in areas including trade and investment, financing for development, climate change and environment, immigration and Windrush, food security, health, education, and the situation in Haiti.