Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Godwin Friday says he had “a very fruitful discussion” on regional matters with his St. Kitts and Nevis counterpart, Terrance Drew, CARICOM Secretary-General Carla Barnett and other officials in Argyle on Tuesday.
Friday, who is chair of the eight-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, and Drew, who chairs the 15-member CARICOM, met as Drew began a tour of regional capitals ahead of the CARICOM heads of government conference in Basseterre next month.
“We came here without any fixed agenda, basically, which is good for a meeting of this sort, because now we could talk about things that are on our minds,” Friday told the state-owned Agency for Public Information after the meeting.
“It was a very fruitful discussion,” he said, adding that the meeting “went on for quite a while and spoke about things that are currently of interest to all the countries in the region.
“But, of course, we’re looking at the particular things that are confronting us here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and how they make their way into the regional agenda.”
The Vincentian leader said that part of the solution to the region’s problems comes from collective action.
“So, many, many areas that were covered here, and all of them very practical, very much related to bread-and-butter issues that are going to affect people.”
Friday, who was voted into office in November, said he has told his colleague heads of government “that we have to always make these meetings, whether it’s in CARICOM or the OECS, relate to what is happening on the ground with people.
“Because these institutions, what they’re supposed to do is to give us a greater sense of security, to put money in people’s pockets, so to speak,” he said, adding that the regional blocs have to contribute to a better standard of living.
“They contribute to greater security in the region. And all of those issues, we covered them in different ways here today, and we look forward to having further discussions when we go to the meeting in St. Kitts.”
He said the region’s people have a right to ask why they should care about CARICOM or OECS.
“Because these institutions are not there as decorations. They’re there as means for us to provide a better standard of living for our people, as I say, to enhance security for our people, to give hope to people in individual countries and in the region.
“And we believe fundamentally that this is done better when we have a collaborative approach. In the OECS and CARICOM, we have greater integration at the economic level, we have attempts at better coordination of our policy approaches and essentially having each other’s back.”
Friday said this is “challenging sometimes, but I believe the opportunities are also there for us to take advantage of.
“And if we focus on those and not let the challenges — I call those, those are speed bumps. They slow us down, but they don’t stop us from going forward, and that’s the commitment that I sense and I see in conversations that I have heard.
“In the conversation with Prime Minister Drew here today and that we are agreed on that, that we are committed to the regional process of greater integration in the region, and that we both, we’re going to work for it, as I know other members, other head of government in the region, also too.
“We will overcome the challenge. Once there’s goodwill and believe we see that it actually provides benefits to our people. Then we will overcome those challenges,” Friday said.
Meanwhile, Drew, speaking to API separately after the meeting, said he would not go into the details, but disclosed that the meeting discussed matters of health, trade, business, the movement of people, and, among other things, geopolitics.
“And so, we had the opportunity to discuss some of them in great detail, and also to discuss our challenges. But not just the challenges, but the opportunities that derive from those challenges for us to strengthen the CARICOM movement,” the St. Kitts and Nevis prime minister said.
Drew said he is a strong believer in the CARICOM movement, irrespective of the challenges.
“But which movement does not have challenges? And we cannot give up,” he said, adding that there are a lot of benefits from CARICOM.
He noted that CARICOM agencies include CDEMA, the bloc’s disaster response organisation, CXC, the examination council, and RSS, which handles regional security.
“And you can go down the line of all of these institutions that serve us on the regional level that individually we would not be able to carry,” Drew said.
“So, already, we see the direct impact of CARICOM on all of us within the region. So, I am here today, and I will visit as much heads that I can visit, and really to firm up our relationship and to firm up CARICOM as we head to St. Kitts in February for CARICOM’s 50th meeting,” Drew said.
He said small states such as those in CARICOM collaborate and we work as closely as possible to pursue the best outcome for each country.
“So, it’s very important at this time that we really try to work together as much as possible and try to strengthen those bonds as much as possible,” Drew said.
“And I say that understanding that there will be challenges, but understanding as well that the people in the region recognise that this movement is calling for a stronger CARICOM, even though we might have challenges. So, it’s important.”
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