3rd March 2023
The ongoing unrest in Haiti and the announcement of a major aid package from Canada dominated the narrative as the CARICOM Heads of Government met in The Bahamas for the 44th Regular Meeting of the bloc.
The summit, held over 15 to 17 February 2023, was expected to deliver a plan of action for assisting Haiti in bringing escalating gang violence and unrest under control.
“What we seek to have done is to stabilize the country sufficiently enough to allow for a free and fair election, and the path and journey to that is where the challenge falls,” said Bahamas Prime Minister and current CARICOM Chairman Philip Davis.
While the Governments of Jamaica and The Bahamas have previously indicated that they would be willing to deploy troops to Haiti if that became the international consensus, at this meeting, CARICOM decided that they will not send troops at this time.
“No, we are not sending troops. That much I can answer,” said Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell to reporters. Similarly,
Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves said that the bloc was working on a project for strengthening the Haitian police and security. Earlier this week, a special CARICOM delegation led by Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness visited the country for talks with key political and security stakeholders.
Attending the summit as a special guest, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his country would provide navy vessels to Haiti for intelligence-gathering as part of efforts to disrupt gang violence.
CBC Canada reported that two Kingston-class coastal defence vessels, usually manned by a mix of regular force and reservists, will anchor off Haiti’s capital as part of the plan, but that “the rules of engagement are still being determined.”
Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada would provide to Haiti CA$12.3mn (US$9mn) in humanitarian support, CA$10mn (US$7.3mn) to the International Office on Migration (OIM) to strengthen the protection of Haitians, and a separate CA$44.8mn (US$32.9mn) aid package for CARICOM.
This includes the CA$15mn (US$11mn) Disaster READY Project which will improve disaster management in the Caribbean by building capacity and strengthening disaster response and social protection systems. It will also provide additional funding to increase disaster insurance coverage provided by the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF-SPC).
Included in the package are also the CA$12mn (US$8.8mn) partnership with the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC) to enhance eco-systems and coastal protection for climate change resilience in the Caribbean, and the CA$8mn (US$5.9mn) grant to the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund. Some CA$5mn (US$3.7mn) will also be provided through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help Latin American and Caribbean countries who request support to build their capacity for the adoption of nature-based climate solutions, and CA$4.8mn (US$3.5mn) to the UNDP for the improvement of water resilience in the Eastern Caribbean.
“Canada and CARICOM are united in longstanding partnerships and shared priorities. There are a lot of challenges we need to work together on: supporting the people of Haiti, delivering climate action and improving resilience, finding new economic opportunities for our businesses and workers, and above all, putting people at the centre of everything we do,” said Prime Minister Trudeau.
While it was expected that discussions with the Canadian leader would feature at the summit, the inclusion of an address by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Caribbean leaders in a closed-door session came as a surprise to many despite the bloc’s public opposition to the war.
“Heads of Government received a virtual presentation from the President of the Ukraine, His Excellency Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Chairman welcomed the President’s remarks and expressed the hope for a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict,” read the CARICOM communique issued at the end of the summit.
The Caribbean leaders also discussed a range of other issues and received updates on others including from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) which emphasised the need for a comprehensive response to COVID-19, Mpox and other regional health security threats. The bloc welcomed the establishment of the World Bank Pandemic Fund and discussed the need for improved vector control programmes to stymie the spread of Zika in the region.
Receiving a report from Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Heads of Government “agreed that the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas would be amended to provide for the regulation of mergers and acquisitions in the CSME on the basis of an approved Community Policy”.
CARICOM also received an update on the progress of the Draft Policy on a Regional Capital Market and directed the “Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) and the Legal Affairs Committee to take the necessary action to ensure that the infrastructure for the regional capital market is largely in place within 18 months”.
While leaders also discussed the continued challenges of regional air and sea connectivity, its absence from the communique as a topic is seen by some as a lack of progress on what is considered one of the region’s most pressing issues. When coupled with the failure to outline a clear plan for Haiti, and sans the announcement of aid from Canada, the summit may find it difficult to escape the usual criticism of being pomp, in need of more circumstance.
This is a lead article from Caribbean Insight, The Caribbean Council’s flagship fortnightly publication. From The Bahamas to French Guiana, each edition consists of country-by-country analysis of the leading news stories of consequence, distilling business and political developments across the Caribbean into a single must-read publication. Please follow the links on the right-hand side of this page to subscribe, or access a free trial.
