Paramaribo (TDI): Against a backdrop of shifting global trade winds and mounting geopolitical uncertainty, CARICOM Secretary-General Dr. Carla Barnett opened the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) on Wednesday.
“None of our small nations can effectively confront these challenges in isolation,” Dr. Barnett told assembled foreign ministers. “Working together is therefore not an option; it is an imperative.”
The two-day meeting, held in Paramaribo and chaired by Suriname’s new Foreign Affairs Minister Melvin Bouva, brought together the foreign ministers of CARICOM’s fifteen member states to coordinate positions on some of the most pressing issues facing the region.
Dr. Barnett set an ambitious tone from the outset, pointing to a crowded diplomatic calendar ahead. Key multilateral engagements on the horizon for 2026 include the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, the 81st UN General Assembly, the 56th OAS General Assembly, and COP31.
💼At the opening of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) in Paramaribo, Suriname 🇸🇷, #CARICOM Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett underscored the importance of regional unity, coordinated foreign policy, and strategic international… pic.twitter.com/JJhCDJxBOR
— CARICOM: Caribbean Community (@CARICOMorg) May 20, 2026
She urged member states to enter each of these forums with coordinated positions rather than fragmented national stances.
Ministers are expected to address reparatory justice, the ongoing crisis in Haiti, access to climate financing, and international peace and security; a cluster of issues that CARICOM has long argued requires a collective Caribbean voice to gain meaningful traction on the world stage.
The meeting also signals a broadening of the bloc’s international outreach. High-level representatives from Japan, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates attended the opening session, reflecting CARICOM’s efforts to deepen ties beyond its traditional partners in North America and Europe.
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On the domestic front, Dr. Barnett pointed to a period of relative democratic health across the region. Elections were held peacefully across ten member states over the past year and a half, with CARICOM Electoral Observer Missions deployed to most of them to help uphold electoral integrity.
The Secretary-General acknowledged the practical difficulties of forging consensus among fifteen sovereign nations with distinct national interests, but argued that this complexity is precisely what makes the achievement meaningful.
The ability to coordinate foreign policy positions, she said, demonstrates that the Community remains the most effective vehicle for navigating an unpredictable global landscape.
The COFCOR, which reports to the Conference of Heads of Government, is CARICOM’s principal organ for coordinating foreign policy and managing relations with external partners.
Its outcomes from this session are expected to feed directly into the bloc’s positioning at the major international summits scheduled for later in the year.
