CARICOM, India forging closer cooperation

See below the full statement from the Caricom Secretariat:

Fourteen CARICOM countries will meet India’s Prime Minister, the Hon. Narendra Modi in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday, 20 November 2024, in a Summit deemed historic, as the first stand-alone Meeting between the Heads of Government of the two sides to be convened a CARICOM Member State.

The engagement is expected to strengthen an already strong relationship in areas such as economic cooperation, agriculture and food security, health and pharmaceuticals, and science and innovations.

The Opening Ceremony will feature remarks by the Chair of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Grenada, Hon. Dickon Mitchell; President of Guyana, H.E. Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali; Prime Minister of India, Hon. Narendra Modi; and CARICOM Secretary-General, Dr. Carla Barnett.

CARICOM Heads of Government and India’s Prime Minister last met in 2019 in the margins of the 74^th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) where they discussed cooperation modalities in renewable energy and climate change through a US$150 million credit line from India.

Commenting on the significance of the Summit, Assistant Secretary-General for Foreign and Community Relations at the CARICOM Secretariat, Ms Elizabeth Solomon said,

“India is an important global actor. Our Member States are keen to meet Prime Minister Modi and develop deeper technical relationships, deepen the relationship in terms of advocacy for small states in the international arena, and strengthen people to people ties.”

CARICOM Member States have had longstanding friendships with India, however the process of formalising relations with CARICOM as a bloc and India began in 1985 when an Agreement on Scientific and Technical Cooperation was signed. In 2003, a CARICOM delegation led by the Hon. K.D. Knight, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica and then Chairman of the Community Council visited India, and signed an Agreement to establish a Standing Joint Commission on Consultation, Cooperation and Coordination between CARICOM and India.

At the first meeting of CARICOM-India Foreign Ministers in 2005 in the margins of the Sixteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government Conference, the Foreign Ministers rationalised possible areas of cooperation.

The First Meeting of the CARICOM-India Joint Commission which was convened in June 2015 identified areas of cooperation as agribusiness development, food security, health, small business development, marine development, fisheries and disaster management.

CARICOM and India have maintained ties through the Joint Commission, political interactions at the Heads and Ministerial levels, as well as multilaterally in the context of the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the Group of 77, and the Non-Aligned Movement.