First-ever Africa-CARICOM Summit hailed as ‘historic’

Caribbean and African leaders attend the first ever AFRICA-CARICOM Summit, hosted by Kenya.

The first-ever Africa-CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Summit has been labelled ‘historic’ after its virtual meeting yesterday.

The online event aimed to strengthen the bond between Africa and the Caribbean and promote greater trade relations and investment opportunities between the two regions. Originally scheduled to take place in 2020, the Summit was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic and a virtual event was set up instead on Tuesday 7 September.

We meet today to start working together to confront the common challenges that we face and to strengthen the historic and cultural ties that bind us and we aim to build social, economic and political linkages that will promote shared prosperity and social progress for us all

“It is truly an historic event,” David Comissiong, Barbados ambassador to CARICOM said, “and I hope and trust it will be telecast live to the peoples of the Caribbean community on multiple platforms inclusive of our national television stations.”

Strengthening regional ties

President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, chaired the meeting between the 55-member nations of the Africa Union and the Caribbean’s 15-member CARICOM group and said, “Kenya was honoured to host the inaugural Summit.”

Mr Kenyatta also called for the forum to be held annually on 7 September, to enable important conversations between the two regions continue and to ensure they can authorise any joint actions.

He said: “We meet today to start working together to confront the common challenges that we face and to strengthen the historic and cultural ties that bind us and we aim to build social, economic and political linkages that will promote shared prosperity and social progress for us all.”

The Chairman of CARICOM and Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, called for Africa and the Caribbean to utilise their natural resources for their economic benefit.

He said: “Between the nations of the African Union and CARICOM, we are a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, with great natural and wealth-creating resources including oil, gas, agriculture, minerals, forestry, tourism, fisheries and much more.

“We are the suppliers of vital commodities to the global community, and a strong market for the goods and services of Europe and North America. Additionally, together we have the voting power of 69 nations in the United Nations and all its subsidiary organisations, including the World Trade Organisation”.

“We have global bargaining power.”

Mr Browne explained to the 69 countries in attendance, how the transatlantic slave trade impacted both regions. He said: “I start from the premise that Europe underdeveloped Africa and left the Caribbean underdeveloped.”

“Let us be clear. There was never trade between Africa and the Caribbean. There was trade between Europeans using African people as commodity. They traded, we were traded,” he added.

Mr Browne also proposed the observation of an annual ‘African-Caricom Day’.

Opportunites to deepen integration

The inaugural meeting was held under the theme ‘Unity Across Continents and Oceans: Opportunities for deepening integration.’

All visa requirements should be abolished. Africans and Caribbean people should be able to move freely,

The theme was embraced by Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Mottley, who called for “at least one weekly direct flight from Africa to the Caribbean”, to ensure African and Caribbean people can build person-to-person and experience each other’s countries first-hand.

Ms Mottley said: “All visa requirements should be abolished. Africans and Caribbean people should be able to move freely,” she added.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley

Participants at the event included Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community and the African Union, Chairs of CARICOM and the African Union Commission.

The meeting urged leaders in both regions to invest in tech-based products and solutions to allow their economies to develop and not rely solely on tourism.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness welcomed the meeting and described it as the fulfilment of past Pan-African leader’s foresight.

He cited Marcus Garvey, Nelson Mandela and Jomo Kenyatta, the late father of Kenya’s Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, as leaders who had visualised and fought for yesterday’s historic gathering.

“For Jamaica, there is potential in the agro-industry and logistics sector and Jamaican companies have already invested in Africa. Opportunities also exist for scientific research and collaboration, investment in health care, technological innovation and digitisation, as well as in the creative economy,” Mr Holness said. 

He added, “In relation to development financing, debt sustainability and climate change, our cooperation within the OACPS [Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States], Commonwealth, UN and WTO remains a strong foundation for deepening integration between us.” 

Partnerships

Speaking at the Summit, President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa insisted that “Africa and the Caribbean community must continue to strengthen partnerships.” He said both regions “must increase self-reliance for the benefit of our people” as this remains critical.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley thanked African countries for their support in assisting CARICOM to access vaccines to combat Covid-19.

The African Union declared the Diaspora as the sixth region of Africa and in recent years, there has been a series of visits between the leaders of CARICOM and Africa.

President of Ghana Nana Akufo-Addo

Both the President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, and President Kenyatta visited the Caribbean in 2019.

In 2020, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley went to Ghana and Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness visited several African countries in 2018, including Namibia and South Africa.

In June, the Republic of Ghana and the Commonwealth of Dominica signed an agreement to waive visa requirements between the two countries.

The new visa waiver agreement aims to help increase travel between the two countries as well as facilitating travel between government officials and business executives.

The move is expected to boost tourism and will help to strengthen growing diaspora relations between the two Commonwealth countries. In December 2020, aviation history was made when the first direct flight from Lagos, Nigeria, arrived in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

The Summit was praised by social media users online, with many describing yesterday’s meeting as “a long time coming”, “historic” and “beautiful”.

In his closing statement, President Kenyatta said: “This Summit has laid a firm foundation on which to build a strong political, cultural and socio-economic cooperation for all people of African descent.”

He said the forum was a “rich and productive discussion.”

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1 Comment

  1. | Olatunbosun Bode-Alaaka

    This began the Unity of Afrikan Peoples, required for Afrikan Emancipation from the shackles of White Imperialism.

    Reply

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