Georgetown, 18 May 2022 (TDI): The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will hold a meeting today to discuss a range of issues.
The Ministers will hold the meeting in a hybrid format. Moreover, this is the 25th meeting of the CARICOM Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFOR).
Chet Greene, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Trade of Antigua and Barbuda will chair the meeting. Minister Greene has assumed the chairmanship of the COFOR for the next six months.
Previously, the position was served by Eamon Courtenay, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, and Immigration of Belize. The agenda of the meeting is dense and comprehensive.
The participants will discuss climate change, development, and CARICOM’s foreign relations with countries of the continent. Furthermore, they will also debate other hemispheric issues such as migration.
Likewise, the Ministers will discuss CARICOM’s relations with the United States, Cuba, Africa, Canada, Europe, and Central America.
These countries and regions are strategically important for the regional body’s aims and goals.
In addition, they will assess and re-formulate CARICOM’s foreign policy positions in multilateral forums such as the UN, the OAS, the Commonwealth, and the CELAC.
Moreover, the Foreign Ministers will discuss border disputes between its member-states and Latin American countries. These disputes include the Belize-Guatemala dispute and the Venezuela-Guyana dispute.
Meanwhile, Caribbean Community has generally supported the internationally recognized claims of Guyana and Belize over other claimants.
Caribbean Community
The Caribbean Community is a regional intergovernmental organization covering the Caribbean region. The organization aims to achieve economic integration and political cooperation among its members.
Furthermore, it aims to coordinate foreign policy, to present a common front from the Caribbean nations in other regional forums. CARICOM has been successful in presenting a common front as an economic and political bloc.
CARICOM has fifteen full member states and five associate members. The organization is headquartered in Georgetown, Guyana.
