AUSTRALA’S Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Richard Marles, at a press conference yesterday at the Pegasus Hotel, Kingston, said that Australia and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) share an excellent relationship, and he has been visiting a number of CARICOM countries recently to assess their development needs. Marles said that the Australian Government has given $60M to CARICOM countries for the development of critical areas such as climate change, economic resilience and personnel (development scholarships for technical persons), which will help them as developing countries.
“This trip is based on the continued development of the relationship that the Australian Government and CARICOM share, based on a number of Memorandum of Understanding for the establishing of a $60M development programme … visiting Guyana is about a bilateral agreement…we are proud of the steps that Guyana has made towards the development of a climate change strategy through its Low Carbon Development Strategy,” Marles said.
Marles believes that visiting the various CARICOM states allows him to see the differences that exist between CARICOM countries and the Pacific Islands, thereby a better determination of the level of development-related intervention can be made, moreso for collaboration between the two on a number of other issues.
Marles arrived in Guyana on Sunday and will be hosting meetings to discuss regional priorities such as climate change, disaster risk management, and Australia’s support of the Caribbean region under the Australia-CARICOM Memorandum of Understanding.
Earlier yesterday Marles met with Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, Foreign Affairs Minister, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, and CARICOM Secretary General, Irwin La Rocque.