‘New Era’ For UK/CARICOM
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has hailed a “new era” for UK-Caribbean relations as he joins partners from across the region — including Bermuda — at the biennial UK-Caribbean Forum in Grenada today [Jan. 20]
The Forum — which brings together political and business leaders from both the UK and the Caribbean — will look for new ways of working together and to improve ties.
For the first time this year, the Dominican Republic — one of the fastest-growing countries in the area — as well as Haiti and Suriname will also take part, along with observers from British Caribbean Overseas Territories, including Bermuda’s Premier and Finance Minister Paula Cox.
The UK-Caribbean Forum is held every two years for the purpose of as “establishing priority areas for cooperation, discussing key areas of concern and proposing mechanisms to facilitate greater collaboration” between Britain and Caribbean Communuity [CARICOM] nations.
Bermuda holds associate membership in CARICOM.
Premier Cox held “frank and meaningful” talks with Mr. Hague on the future of Bermuda-UK ties in London last year at the annual meeting of the Overseas Territories Consultative Council.
Premier Cox & Other Overseas Territories Leaders With Foreign Secretary Hague
The Grenada get-together, to be hosted by that country’s Foreign Minister Karl Hood, wraps up on Sunday [Jan. 22]
In a statment, Mr. Hague said, “When I became Foreign Secretary I was determined to reinvigorate the UK’s relationships with its partners across the Caribbean.
“This year’s Forum has afforded me my first opportunity to demonstrate this commitment in concrete terms, by hearing firsthand the value of our relationships and how we can improve them.
“We already work together on a broad range of issues — ranging from counter-narcotics operations and criminal justice reform to climate change and economic development — and the UK has committed to increasing aid to the region by fifty per cent over the next four years to aid growth. We want to strengthen and deepen our cooperation on these and other issues.
“Historically the UK and Caribbean have close ties, but there has been a sense on both sides that the relationship is not delivering. I now want to see a new era beginning, where both sides can share knowledge and expertise and which is characterised by stronger trade relations. This should be a modern partnership based on prosperity and cooperation, and we will continue to work towards this aim.”
Around one and a half million British tourists visited the Caribbean in 2010, and tourism is a key plank of the economy. However, the Forum was set up in part to emphasise other vital links.
2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of independence for both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, two of the UK’s key markets in the region and countries with which the UK works closely on issues around climate change, organised crime and economic development issues.
The British Foreign Secretary is being accompanied to Grenada by Nick Baird, Chief Executive of UK Trade & Investment.
