(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Government of India through its newly accredited envoy to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has acknowledged the “exciting phase” at which the Community and that country are currently poised, and has committed to work with the integration bloc for all-round growth.
Presenting his Letters of Accreditation Friday to His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARICOM, His Excellency Subit Kumar Mandal, the sixth Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of India to CARICOM, pointed to the vital role CARICOM has played and will play in ensuring the continued vibrancy of the Region.
“While eagerly awaiting the CARICOM Single Market and Economy to become fully operational, we are engaging ourselves bilaterally in the Region. India’s trade with the Region is increasing steadily and Indian investors have started showing heightened interest in the vast potential of the Region. There has been a sea change in the perception of each other’s capacity and capabilities and with new areas being opened up for effective economic interactions, we are in an exciting phase,” Mr Mandal said at the CARICOM Secretariat headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.
Noting that India though a developing country was increasingly becoming a major player globally, the CARICOM Secretary-General expressed confidence in India’s support in the international arena in dealing with the “peculiar issue” of the Region’s “so-called graduation of our small highly indebted middle income countries”.
“This so-called graduation is really a demotion from access to badly needed international development assistance. We are confident that India’s support in the international arena in dealing with this matter would not be lacking,” Secretary-General Carrington said.
Both the Secretary-General and Mr Mandal referred to the history between the Community and India which has laid the foundation for the long-standing relations the two parties enjoy. The countries of the Caribbean and India have a history dating back one hundred and fifty years with the arrival in the Caribbean, of indentured labourers from India in 1838. The Region and India were closely associated in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and in the Commonwealth, the G-77 and the United Nations.
