HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC – The Bermuda government says it will host a public town hall meeting on Tuesday next week regarding the British Overseas Territory’s application to become a full member of the regional integration movement, CARICOM.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said that the meeting forms part of the ongoing public consultation on the government’s “Green Paper on Bermuda’s Application for Full Membership in the Caribbean Community,” which was tabled in the House of Assembly by Minister of Home Affairs, Alexa Lightbourne.
“This Green Paper is an invitation to the people of Bermuda to become informed, to understand what CARICOM is, what full membership could mean, and to share their views,” Lightbourne said when he tabled the Green Paper last month, adding, “we encourage every Bermudian to read the document and take part in the national conversation”.
The government is urging members of the public to visit the togetherforcaricom.gov.bm website ahead of the public consultation to read the Green Paper.
“Bermudians deserve to be informed and to have their questions answered. This is part of a broader process of bringing the public along as we work through a decision that the government is well-equipped to make. Deepening ties with CARICOM is about people, shared history, and shared prosperity,” Lightbourne said ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
The Ministry’s public education campaign, “THE STORY OF US”, is currently running across multiple platforms. It brings forward Caribbean and Bermudian voices to contextualize the island’s historical, cultural, and regional connections.
In November 2023, the David Burt government announced that it was moving ahead with plans to join CARICOM, following the United Kingdom’s approval.
But in July last year, Michael Fahy, the shadow minister of home affairs, called for a referendum to be held before Bermuda seeks full membership of CARICOM.
He has also been urging Bermuda to adopt a cautious approach to gaining full membership of CARICOM, following the United States’ decision to limit immigration from almost every Caribbean Community country except Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname.
The Green Paper notes that full membership would have resulted in an annual increase in the island’s CARICOM contribution of about 2 million US dollars.
“To put this in perspective, the estimated US$2.28 million contribution corresponds to approximately 0.16 per cent of the Government of Bermuda’s 2025-26 annual expenditure, a fraction of the national Budget committed to unlocking high-value benefits currently unavailable to us on our own or under our limited associate member status,” according to the Green Paper.
Unlike Montserrat, a founding member of CARICOM, the other British Overseas Territories of Bermuda, Anguilla, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands are all associate members of CARICOM.
In the case of Bermuda, its membership dates back to 2003, allowing it to participate in areas such as regional cooperation, sport, culture, and disaster support.
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