On July 4, 2022, to mark the founding of the regional organization, heads of state and government from CARICOM planted plants at the Culture Garden during President Chandrikapersad Santokhi’s CARICOM leadership. This was also the lead-up to the regional association’s 50th anniversary celebration on July 4, 2023. Leaders from the Caricom region will gather this week in Trinidad and Tobago for the 45th regular Heads of Government of the Caribbean community meeting in recognition of this significant occasion. The delegation led by President Chandrikapersad Santokhi departed for the island in the late afternoon of Sunday, July 2.
Minister Albert Ramdin of Foreign Affairs, International Business and International Cooperation announced that this conference of heads of state would be held in Dominica, as Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is about to assume this position. However, due to the special nature of the meeting, it has been agreed that it will be held in the country where it was founded. The Treaty of Chaguaramas, which is the basis for the establishment of the Caribbean Community, was signed on July 4, 1973 in Chaguaramas, a town in the northwest of Trinidad.
In addition to the 50th anniversary of the country organization, according to Minister Ramdin, a substantial agenda will be completed, and President Santokhi will also make the necessary interventions in a number of areas. The minister explains that the membership of the head of state in the Bureau of the Caricom will also come to an end. The president will exchange views with colleagues on the situation in Haiti, environmental issues and climate crisis. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will also be present. The President of Rwanda and the Prime Minister of South Korea have also been invited. President Santokhi will hold bilateral talks with the latter on the agricultural sector, energy and the environment.
Minister Ramdin says environment will be a crucial part of the agenda due to the need for Caricom – with the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai approaching – to take a position on climate change and crisis. “A lot of attention will be paid to that,” said the government official, who further noted that reform of global financing modalities will also be discussed with regard to supporting, in particular, countries with high debts as well as countries with climate problems. Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley recently held a global summit with French President Emmanuel Macron on switching to a new financing system. Suriname also participated in this.
