Guyana set to host 46th CARICOM Conference in February

Georgetown, Guyana: The 46th Conference of Heads of Governments of CARICOM is set to take place in Georgetown, Guyana, next month, with President Irfaan Ali currently serving as Chairman of the regional body.

It is to be noted that during the 45th CARICOM conference, which was held from July 3-5, 2023, the heads of Government of the 15-member bloc agreed for the conference to be held in the last week of February 2024.

Importantly, President Ali assumed the Chairmanship of the Community on January 1, 2024, and will serve in that position until June 30 of this year.

As per President Ali, this year’s CARICOM agenda is to hold discussions regarding regional security and territorial threats and combat the rising problems of crime and violence, including the import and export of illegal weapons through its “War on Guns” campaign.

Moreover, he has been talking extensively about the issue of safeguarding climate and food security in the Region. As per his statement, the New Year brings more opportunities for the advancement and improvement of CARICOM’s objectives.

The incoming Chairman of CARICOM focused on pursuing the Region’s development goals and maintaining peace and prosperity across the Caribbean Community.

“Regional security is an increasingly critical matter. We live in a world where peace is challenged from one corner of the universe to the next. We ended 2023, however, with CARICOM’s robust role in assuring the rule of international peace and security in our corner of the world and ensuring that Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole remained a Zone of Peace. We shall continue in 2024 with respect to international law. We all remain committed to peacefully and by legal means resolving border controversies”, President Ali stated.

Further, the leader of Guyana said that CARICOM member countries will spare no effort to bring ‘Haiti’ back to peace and stability, as he believes that the Region must remain a zone of peace.

Speaking on the issue of food and nutrition security of the Region, the incoming Chairman of CARICOM stated that despite adverse challenges, CARICOM member countries have clinched the heights of progress towards achieving the target of reducing the Region’s food import bill by ’25 per cent by 2025.’

Currently, President Ali is serving as the lead head of Government responsible for agriculture and agriculture development in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.

Noting this, many other leaders who have identified threats to their food security systems lauded his untiring efforts and stewardship of this undertaking.

Additionally, the President of Guyana also offered to provide training in hydroponics and aquaculture for 300 CARICOM nationals, at least half of whom should be women.