…Home Affairs Minister to deliver keynote address
A U.S. delegation is expected in Guyana to participate in the Second Meeting of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) Commission today and tomorrow.
Headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Caribbean and Central America, Julissa Reynoso, the U.S. delegation comprises 14 members, including representatives from the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, and other inter-agency partners, including USAID, the Department of Defense’s Southern Command, and the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
The CBSI Commission Meeting, hosted by the Government of Guyana, will convene CBSI partners to discuss preparations for the Second Caribbean-United States Security Cooperation Dialogue, scheduled for November 10, 2011, in Nassau, The Bahamas.
In Guyana, the CBSI partnership focuses on addressing social, law enforcement, and security challenges from international crime through increased maritime interdiction capacity; law enforcement training and equipment; countering money laundering and other financial crimes; and youth development through training and job skills development.
The first meeting of the CBSI Commission was held in November, 2010, in Kingston, Jamaica. The CBSI Commission meetings are designed to coordinate local, national, and regional security and crime prevention activities and policies. These technical working groups ensure effective and efficient implementation of programmes, identify future programme and policy needs, and inform policymakers.
CBSI fulfils the commitment to deepen regional security cooperation that President Barack Obama made at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, in April 2009. Working together through the CBSI to substantially reduce illicit trafficking, increase public safety and security, and promote social justice, participating nations will increase citizen safety throughout the Caribbean.
Guyana is hosting the Second Meeting of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) Commission on October 13 and 14 at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC), Liliendaal.
This forum will engage participants from the Caribbean, United States of America, and The Dominican Republic.
The CBSI was crafted bilaterally by CARICOM and the US Government, subsequent to the decisions taken at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009.
At that Summit, United States President Barack Obama announced his country’s intent to pursue a security partnership with the Caribbean.
Since then, Governments of the Caribbean and the US have met on several occasions to jointly define and develop the goals and scope for the CBSI.
Governments of the Caribbean, in April 2008, agreed to develop a common regional strategy and operational framework, and continue to embrace the U.S. response to CARICOM’s call for greater cooperation in the area of regional security.
The partnership is expected to be an ongoing collaboration that draws upon and helps develop the capacity of the Caribbean to address common security-related challenges.
This bilateral agreement with CARICOM and the U.S. will provide for capacity-building in the financial investigative unit and the Guyana Revenue Authority that would allow the tracking of illegal inflows and the use of ‘dirty money’ in the economy.
Guyana’s Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee is set to give the keynote address at today’s opening of the CBSI meeting.