CARICOM: PM DOUGLAS WANTS MORE CO-ORDINATED REGIONAL FOREIGN POLICY

Basseterre, St Kitts, May 6 (CMC)- Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas Wednesday called for a renewal and enhancement of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) foreign policy.

Delivering the feature address at the opening of the 14th Meeting of the Caricom Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), Prime Minister Douglas said there must be an ongoing examination of the principles, practices, and mechanisms in the coordination of the approach to foreign policy, in the same way that there needs to be a review of the mechanisms by which the region engages third countries and groups of countries.

"As we do so, we must pay particular attention to our bilateral relations, framework agreements including memoranda of understanding and co-operation agreements, the regular scheduling of high-level meetings, the joint commission of similar mechanisms; and the accreditation of plenipotentiary representatives," said Dr Douglas.

He said that the challenges that the Caribbean faces are real and there is the reality of increasing xenophobia.

"There is the matter of global corporate attempts -not always obvious or openly admitted- to secure, and place in private hands, fresh water sources from every continent, the 'oil' of the twenty-first century. There is the issue of illegal drugs and weapons. "There is global warming. All of these challenges demand exactly what we have already committed ourselves to -serious introspection and self-analysis as a region, so that we would be able to effectively chart the type of course that we must, in order to preserve the environmental, socio-political, and economic integrity of both our individual member states, and our broader Caribbean community," he added.

Dr Douglas told delegates, including the foreign ministers and observers from Slovenia, Hungary, South Africa and Australia, that co-ordination will assume an increasingly important role in the months and years ahead.

"Co-ordination in the form of joint representation, co-ordination in order to continue the adoption of joint positions on matters of regional and international import, co-ordination within the context of non-Caribbean inter-governmental organisations," said the prime minister, who noted that the region is fortunate to already have in place a number of foreign policy co-ordinating mechanisms and structures, including COFCOR.

"These we must continue to utilise and build upon, while also striving to strengthen existing ties with members of the Caribbean Diaspora whose numerical, financial, political or other strengths beyond the Caribbean, when strategically applied, could redound to the benefit of the region from which they, our nationals, originated," said Dr Douglas.

He told the meeting that the advantages of establishing mutually beneficial, mutually respectful relations with like-minded nations in both the industrialised and the non-industrialised world can be significant, "as we strive to develop our resources; preserve the security of the community; and expand our economic space".

He added: "In this era of rapid technological changes, our relations with nations with which we can partner as we strive to develop our own technological capabilities can also be significantly advanced by the co-ordinated regional foreign policy orientation of which we often speak”.

The regional foreign ministers were scheduled to discuss a number of issues during their two-day deliberations, including developments in Haiti, Caricom's role in the Association of Caribbean States, and issues before the United Nations and the Organisation of American States.

"The Council is expected to reiterate Caricom's deep concern with respect to the slow disbursement of funds pledged by the international community to Haiti's reconstruction and rehabilitation following the devastating earthquake of January 2010," a Caricom statement said.

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