Photo by Meritt Thomas

11th March 2022

On 3 March, the leaders of CARICOM and SICA convened in Belize for the first summit between the two regional blocs in eleven years. “Clearly much has happened in the world since 2011. The global and regional landscape has changed significantly. Our partnership, therefore, must be strategic,” John Briceno, the Prime Minister of Belize and Chair of CARICOM, told delegates in his opening remarks. As both a Caribbean and Central American nation, Belize is a member of both CARICOM and SICA. “Our dual membership has allowed us a unique vantage point from which we see two groups of developing countries coexisting in the middle of the Americas,” Briceno noted. Following the one-day gathering, SICA and CARICOM issued the Joint Declaration of San Pedro, wherein they pledged to “strength collaboration and cooperation” across a variety of areas, including: public health (particularly in terms of the pandemic), foreign policy, banking and finance, trade and investment, tourism, agriculture, and security.

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