(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Your Excellency, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Deputy Secretary General, other members of the CARICOM Secretariat, U.S. Embassy colleagues, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to serve as the United States of America’s fourth Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community.
The United States greatly values the close and friendly relations we have forged with the member states of the Caribbean Community. It is a fortuitous coincidence that both the founding of the United States with the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the Caribbean Community with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas took place on July 4th. This common birthday is a sign of the shared democratic identity that the people and countries of the Caribbean and the United States enjoy.
As Secretary Clinton and CARICOM Foreign Ministers affirmed in Bridgetown in June 2010: “We are bound together by our social and economic ties, shared history, culture, and geography, our commitment to the values of democracy and respect for human rights, and our determination to achieve social justice, stability, and security for all of our peoples.”
The United States’ relationship with our neighbors in the Caribbean Community has been built on the solid foundation of the 1997 Bridgetown Summit, when our Heads of State and Government pledged to “strengthen co-operation . . . in a spirit of partnership and mutual respect.” This commitment was reaffirmed at the Conference on the Caribbean in Washington, D.C. in June 2007. At the 5th Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009, President Obama affirmed his desire to seek a new and more balanced relationship with the Caribbean region through the development of practical initiatives rooted in mutually beneficial partnerships.
As the United States Representative to CARICOM, I am eager to work with you, Your Excellency, the many other talented and dedicated members of the CARICOM Secretariat, and representatives of the member states to advance our common goals and expand our partnerships in a spirit of mutual respect.
Foremost among these partnerships is the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, which is allowing us to intensify our joint efforts to meet shared security challenges. Through the CBSI, we are working together to reduce illicit trafficking, advance public safety and security, and promote social justice. The CBSI represents a new and innovative approach to security that seeks to address both the root causes as well as the consequences of crime and violence that threaten the social fabric and economic vitality of CARICOM member states. We believe the young people of the region deserve greater economic opportunity, and we are committed to working with CARICOM and host governments through innovative partnerships with dedicated NGO’s and individuals throughout the region. We believe this work can serve to reinforce CARICOM’s own Social Development and Crime Prevention Action Plan. That is why President Obama has deepened our financial commitment to the CBSI with $77 million in FY 2011, an increase of more than 70 percent over the first year of the program. We were pleased that the recent CBSI Dialogue meeting in Nassau affirmed our goal of greater regional coordination and sustainability in our efforts to reduce crime and violence in the Caribbean.
We are also determined to work as partners to build greater prosperity and closer economic linkages between our people and our businesses. We are committed to concluding a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, and are pleased that recent discussions have brought us closer to that common goal. We would also welcome an early meeting of the Trade and Investment Council. The extension of the Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act for a further ten year period through 2020 will ensure continued preferential access to the U.S. market for Caribbean products that can stimulate growth and job creation in the Caribbean region. The United States shares the view that greater regional economic integration and expanded trading opportunities are fundamental to the prosperity and sustainable development of the Caribbean region.
While climate change affects all regions, we recognize it will have a disproportionate impact on small island nations and low lying coastal regions that exist in many CARICOM member states. To enhance energy security and mitigate the impact of climate change, the United States is committed to cooperate with CARICOM countries and institutions under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) to support energy efficiency, encourage renewable energy development, and mitigate the impact of climate change. The new Caribbean Climate Change Adaptation Initiative, which is supported by USAID, will connect the University of the West Indies with U.S. universities to expand research on problems and solutions specific to the region.
Your Excellency, the United States is also determined to work together with CARICOM and its member states to promote the health and development of our people. In the face of the continuing HIV/AIDS threat in the region, we have partnered with PANCAP and other regional entities to implement the United States-Caribbean Regional HIV and AIDS Partnership Framework. The Framework is strengthening the efforts of governments, regional organizations, and national health systems to reduce the incidence of HIV and AIDS among populations most at risk and provide treatment to those affected by the disease. We will also work with CARICOM to address the complex and growing challenge posed by non-communicable diseases.
At the core of the close relationship between the U.S. and the Caribbean are the connections among our people, our families, our businessmen and women, and tourists. To build on these vital connections, the United States has launched a new partnership to enlist the Caribbean Diaspora to put its talent, energy, and entrepreneurial spirit to work for the region. To tap this potential, the State Department recently launched the International Diaspora Engagement Alliance, (IDEA), which seeks to bridge the gap between Diaspora communities and entrepreneurs in their countries of origin. We want to promote trade, help start businesses, and develop new models for spurring economic growth. The Caribbean is the first region in the world selected to demonstrate the potential of this alliance, whose access to capital and technical assistance should begin bearing fruit next year. In November, the State Department, in partnership with the IDB, Canada’s CIDA, the UK’s DFID, and key private sector organizations including Scotia Bank and Digicel, will launch Caribbean Idea Marketplace (CIM). CIM is a business competition that will call on members of the Caribbean Diaspora to submit innovative business proposals. The winning proposals will receive matching grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 as well as special financing.
Our common interests and close connections have been most clearly evident in Haiti, where CARICOM has played a key leadership role in ensuring free and fair elections and expanding economic opportunity by removing trade restrictions. The United States remains firmly committed to working with the Government and people of Haiti, along with their CARICOM and other international partners, to rebuild the country, strengthen its institutions, and reinforce the creative capacity and extraordinary self-reliance of the people as they seek to build a better future.
Your Excellency, having had the opportunity to work with you from the time of my second posting to the Eastern Caribbean in the late 1990’s, I am delighted that we will be able to continue our collaboration in the years ahead to help build a closer and ever more productive partnership for prosperity and security between the United States and the Caribbean Community.
Thank you.
