The Guyana delegation will be seeking to ensure that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plays a greater role in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) at the IV Summit of the Heads of State and Government underway in Quito, Ecuador.
Improving the integration process between Latin American countries and groups, and other countries such as China, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and India will be also stressed at the Summit. In addition to the eradication of extreme poverty, the environment, peace, terrorism and the economy of CELAC states are some of the main topics on the agenda.
The CELAC Foreign Ministers Meeting is currently in progress and will be followed by a meeting of the Heads of State of the grouping tomorrow.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge who is attending the Summit with President David Granger, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that Guyana’s aim going into the summit is to lobby for greater participation of CARICOM as CELAC’s agenda reflects the interests of the smaller countries.
“This is where we focus our attention to ensure CARICOM issues are reflected both in the action plan and implementation of the various programmes and initiatives of the CELAC”. Within CELAC, CARICOM is a very small group in terms of size and population, therefore there is a continued challenge to command attention of the Latin American countries which are much larger,” Minister Greenidge explained.
Guyana’s aim of joining CELAC is to continue lobbying for the continued integration of the region from a strategic perspective which will see its goals (region’s) meshed with those of other CELAC countries.
The last day of the summit will see the President of the Dominican Republic receiving the temporary presidency of the CELAC from Ecuador’s president.
CELAC is the result of several multilateral established organs led by Latin American countries to seek peace, socio-economic development and the integration as a region. It was created in February 2010 at a meeting held by in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Then, it was definitely established as CELAC at the Summit held in Caracas-Venezuela, December 2011.
