By Kenton X. Chance
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — As leaders met here on Sunday for the Second Summit of the African Union (AU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the chair of the continental bloc said young people must occupy a central place in all the strategies that the leaders outline.
“I therefore consider it pertinent to seek to institutionalise the African Union- CARICOM Youth Council as a permanent consultative body, thus ensuring that the new generations are the axis around which the construction of our common future will revolve,” said Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco, who is also the president of Angola.
He noted the progress made since the first AU-CARICOM summit was held virtually in 2021, adding that the unfulfilled commitments should be prioritised.
Lourenco said the definition of a clear and objective roadmap that will lead the blocs as quickly as possible to establish a joint communication and media platform, the signing of a multilateral air services agreement and visa exemption.
“We need to review visa regimes and create direct flights between Africa and the Caribbean, establish an Africa-CARICOM public-private partnership to mobilise resources, and launch the Forum of African and Caribbean Territories and States,” Lourenco said.
“I believe that we must step up our efforts to implement our decisions and transform them into lasting and concrete benefits for our peoples, on the basis of intense and active exchange in the main areas of our cooperation, particularly in the economic sphere, with a view to stimulating trade and investment in the energy, digital technology, agro-industry and blue economy sectors.”
Lourenco said Africa and the Caribbean should move toward deepening educational, artistic and sporting exchanges that reinforce their shared identity. They should also give an active voice to young people, universities, scientific research centres and cultural organisations in the diaspora.
“We have clear objectives and we must seek to establish mechanisms to facilitate their implementation,” he said.
Lourenco proposed the creation of permanent technical subcommittees comprising representatives of the African Union and CARICOM, composed of experts, ministerial representatives and partners from civil society and the private sector.
He said these committees should focus their work on areas of common strategic interest and put forward concrete proposals to promote investment in vaccine production, agricultural innovation and other sectors that can support the development of Africa and CARICOM countries.
“It is important that we act in a coordinated manner to help drive forward the necessary reforms to the global financial architecture, on which a fairer approach to the issue of debt and the provision of financial resources for structural projects that drive progress in Africa and the CARICOM region largely depends.”
Lourenco said that the world is living in a time marked by major global changes, ranging from the climate crisis, food and energy insecurity, geopolitical instability and forced migration to extreme economic pressures.
These challenges particularly affect the countries of the global South, especially those in Africa and the Caribbean, as they are the ones most lacking in the means and resources to deal with them, Lourenco said.
He said the issues affecting Africa and the Caribbean are even more serious in the current context of a marked weakening of multilateral institutions.
These institutions have “a particularly worrying impact” on Africa and the Caribbean, and this should compel leaders “to make a more determined effort to cooperate in defending and constantly promoting a comprehensive multilateralism in which all peoples and nations are treated equally, without the marginalisation to which Africans and Caribbean people have always been subjected,” the AU chairman said.
Lourenco said it is, therefore, imperative that the African Union and CARICOM make coordinated, convergent efforts to demonstrate the inevitability of reforming the United Nations system, particularly the Security Council.
These reforms are necessary to reflect the reality of today’s world so that the Security Council can, “in a context of balance between different geopolitical interests, fully play its role as guarantor of world peace and security, emerging from the stagnation and near-ineffectiveness in which it currently finds itself”.
He said Africa and Caribbean states should seek to jointly defend a form of multilateralism capable of responding to contemporary challenges in the areas of peace and security, climate and sustainable development.
This, Lourenco said, would ensure that the representation in international institutions encompasses the aspirations and desires of the peoples of all continents, particularly those excluded from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.
This second summit was held under the theme ‘Transcontinental Partnership in the Pursuit of Justice for Africans and Afro-descendants through Reparations”.
The theme aligns with the African Union’s decision to dedicate 2025 to the issue of “Justice for Africans and Afro-descendants through Reparations.”
Lourenco said the closer ties between Africa and CARICOM has opened up new opportunities for trade and investment.
He highlighted the progress made in the area of our cooperation, notably the establishment of the AfreximBank CARICOM office in Barbados.
“This important step towards closer ties has opened up new opportunities for trade and investment,” Lourenco said, noting that the four editions of the Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum held so far have brought together business leaders and governments from both regions.
He said the signing on Sept. 26, 2024, of a memorandum of understanding between the AU and CARICOM will strengthen cooperation in strategic areas such as trade, transport, education, science, culture and mutual support in global challenges.
“I am certain that this summit will represent a decisive milestone in the practical action that Africa and the Caribbean will take from now on, so that the words full of emotion and hope that will be spoken during our meeting become the beacon that will guide us to a destination where the African and Caribbean peoples will realise their great aspirations for prosperity, well-being and progress.”
Lourenco also used his speech “to say to the Palestinian people, who are going through this difficult time and facing a veritable genocide, the world is not indifferent to your suffering.
“We stand in solidarity with your cause, the cause of the struggle for the creation of the State of Palestine, so that the Palestinian and Jewish peoples can live in peace and harmony, developing relations of friendship and economic cooperation.”