By Vishani Ragober
The Dominican Republic believes that Caribbean countries must cooperate more with each other and the Spanish-speaking nation is still interested in joining the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), according to its Ambassador to Guyana, Ernesto Torres- Pereyra.
Torres-Pereyra was accredited as Ambassador to Guyana in 2023. That accreditation came as the Guyana/ DR relationship took off.
In just about a year’s time, Guyana’s President Dr. Irfaan Ali and the DR’s President Luis Abinader exchanged State visits with sizable government and private sector delegations. Chambers of Commerce have been established in both countries and many public and private sector deals are in the works.
Ambassador Torres-Pereyra said the Abinader-led government is deliberately focused on partnerships with Guyana and the wider Caribbean region, as part of efforts to guarantee that the DR and other countries in the region prosper.
With a seemingly sound bilateral relationship with Guyana, the DR still has an interest in being part of CARICOM.
“The decision that our President and our government has shared actually concerning CARICOM is that we want to become even closer and this government has been coherent and consistent in showing and expressing the intention of becoming as close as possible.
“If it was up to us, I think we would’ve been a member a long, long time ago,” Ambassador Torres-Pereyra said in a News Room Insider interview that will be aired on Sunday night.
CARICOM is a 15-member bloc of countries in the Caribbean. There are also five associate members. At least twice before – in the late 1980s and in 2013 – the DR requested to join CARICOM but discussions were suspended both times.
At last year’s closing press conference of the 45th Heads of Government Conference in Port of Spain, CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit said Martinique and Curaçao were set to become new members of the bloc.
He also noted that there were no formal discussions at the time for the DR and Cuba to join CARICOM.
“…But we believe in time to come they may very well become members of CARICOM,” Skerrit, however, noted.
Guyana currently holds the Chairmanship of CARICOM and from Sunday to Wednesday, the bloc’s 46th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government will be hosted in Guyana.
