Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali, the president of Guyana, hopes to carry on ensuring regional security as he gets ready to assume leadership of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) for the next six months.
Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica, who presided over the regional alliance for the previous six months, hands the reins to Ali. The body will be led by him from January 1, 2024, until June 30, 2024.
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In a post on his Facebook page, Ali expressed gratitude to his predecessor for spearheading Caricom and expressed optimism for the coming year’s fresh opportunities to “targeted programs to advance Caricom’s strategic priorities with the objective of pursuing the region’s development goals and striving for peace and prosperity across our Caribbean Community.”
Regional security is the main priority for Ali since tensions between Guyana and Venezuela over the Essequibo area are intensifying again after a temporary break brought about by the Argyle deal.
He was alluding to their mid-December meeting in St. Vincent, whereby he and Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, decided to forgo any further escalation of their conflict and to reject any danger of violence.
“Regional security is an increasingly critical matter. We live in a world where peace is challenged from one corner of the universe to the next. We ended 2023, however, with Caricom’s robust role in assuring the rule of international peace and security in our corner of the world and ensuring that Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole remained a zone of peace.”
He declared that the Caricom countries will uphold international law in 2024.
“We all remain committed to peacefully and by legal means resolving border controversies. We are resolved to effectively address crime and violence in our region including combatting the illegal weapons trade through our “War on Guns” campaign. We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to return our member state, Haiti, to peace and stability. Our region must remain a zone of peace.”
The security of the food supply and nutrition in the area are among his other concerns. He stated that member nations had steadily advanced toward the goal of lowering the region’s food import cost by 25% by 2025, despite obstacles such as climate change.
“We will build on these achievements, including advancing our regional agenda for energy services that are available, reliable, affordable and sustainable – to support expected innovations in the agricultural sector. Crucial to this initiative is the need to improve regional transportation and this will remain as one of our top priorities.”
During his term, Ali stated that Caricom will persist in its support of the prompt and equitable implementation of the Loss and Damage Fund, as decided upon during the most recent United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. A little more than US$700 million has been donated to the fund, which will benefit developing countries, by some of the richest countries—the United Arab Emirates, Germany, China, and the United States—who are also the biggest contributors to climate change.
“We shall continue our insistence on fulfillment of the commitments made by major emitters to be converted to actions to reduce emissions that lead to climate change with its deleterious impact on vulnerable Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and low-lying coastal developing states, such as Caricom member states.”
The president added, “We all know that SIDS do not contribute in any meaningful way to climate change, but we carry the heaviest burden of the impact: from more and stronger tropical cyclones to increasingly scarce and saline groundwater, to disappearing coastal lands, to degrading marine eco-systems, to stress on agriculture and other sectors. This is why our call for fair access to affordable financing to address the impact of climate change must and will continue.”
To develop the Single Market and Economy, Caricom will strive to increase the involvement of all sectors, according to Ali, since 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of regional integration.
“We will identify new avenues for targeted partnerships, especially with our young people, to encourage innovative approaches and renewed energy for sustained economic development and convergence.”
He added, “Our objective is to improve the lives of our citizens, through purposeful and sustained co-operation, by delivering high-quality health services, a more relevant system of education for young people, secure and amenable living environments, new jobs and a financial climate that is conducive to investments.”
