Incoming CARICOM Chairman Says Regional Security, A Critical Matter

• Guyana will Chair the Conference of Heads of Government for the period January 1 to June 30, 2024, as President Dr Irfaan Ali prepares to take the helm as CARICOM Chairman.  
• President Ali, in a statement as incoming Chairman of Caricom, highlighted that the New Year brings renewed possibilities to continue targeted programmes to advance CARICOM’s strategic priorities to pursue the Region’s development goals and strive for peace and prosperity across the Caribbean Community.  
• He also noted that “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 this respect for international law. We all remain committed to peacefully and by legal means resolving border controversies.”  
• Caricom will continue to address crime and violence, including combatting the illegal weapons trade, through its “War on Guns” campaign. President Ali says CARICOM will leave no stone unturned in its efforts to return Member State Haiti, to peace and stability as he maintains the Region must remain a Zone of Peace.
• Turning to the issue of the Region’s food and nutrition security, President Ali says despite adverse challenges, including climate change, CARICOM Member States have made steady progress towards achieving the ‘25% by 2025’ target to reduce the Region’s food import bill.  
• He says the agricultural sector will continue to be supported with expected innovations, and crucial to this initiative is the need to improve regional transportation, which will remain one of Caricom’s top priorities.  

 (Sources: Loop Caribbean News)