ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit says he is looking forward to his tenure as chairman of the 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping from July 1, predicting that the upcoming six months will be a “critical” one for the regional integration grouping.
Skerrit will take over from Bahamas Prime Minister Phillip Davis when the regional leaders meet in Trinidad and Tobago early next week for their annual summit, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas that led to the formation of CARICOM.
Dominica was originally due to host the summit. Instead, it allowed Trinidad and Tobago to host the event, including a formal flag-raising ceremony at the site where the treaty was signed on July 4 and laying a commemorative plaque.
“The next six months will be a very hectic six months; we have several critical engagements during that period,” Skerrit said, adding that would possibly include CARICOM-Mexico as well as CARICOM-Canada engagements.
He said, in addition, the region will have to prepare for COP 28 to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 30 to December 12, as well as the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.
“We have the Haitian issue to continue to confront and to see what kind of resolution we can find with the3 current state of affairs in Haiti and to allow Haiti to resume its operations in a normal way,” Skerrit said, adding that CARICOM wants enhanced security for the French-speaking country.
“We have violence as a public health issue and following up on the regional symposium held in Trinidad and Tobago and the actions we have identified to be taken…to address the issue of crime and violence within the Caribbean Community.”
“So, several critical engagements will happen over the next six months under my chairmanship of CARICOM. There is a heightened sense of enthusiasm within the Caribbean Community. I think there is a spirit of working together in the Caribbean Community, and I think the future engagements of CARICOM certainly would be constructive,” Skerrit told reporters.
CARICOM groups the countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts-Nevis, Monserrat, Suriname, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti.
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