U.S. will continue to support Region in crime fight – Ambassador Hardt
With an infusion of US$77M to the Region for 2011, as part of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative(CBSI), the United States remains committed to partnering with countries of the Region, including The Dominican Republic, to strengthen the fight against all manifestations of crime. The Second Commission Meeting of the CBSI yesterday wrapped up two days of deliberations at the Guyana International Conference Centre, Liliendaal. Delegates from CARICOM countries, the United States and The Dominican Republic reviewed what has been achieved since the coming into being of the initiative last year, and took a forward look at the plans ahead.
US Ambassador Brent Hardt is confident that the resources his country is providing to the efforts will be placed to the most targeted priority areas.
“We see the partnership moving forward from here. Today we had a very productive day, and I think we reviewed all of the progress we made,” he said.
“All of the delegations, the US, the Dominican Republic and CARICOM, highlighted the progress that they have seen so far. We looked at the outcome of four working groups that were held during the course of last year, and four countries throughout the Caribbean on law enforcement, capacity building, law enforcement information sharing, maritime domain awareness, and dealing with the social root causes of crime,” the US ambassador said.
“All of this has developed very precise recommendations that we are in the process now of sorting through and funding. In some cases, some of the issues needed more detailed discussion, (which) we are going to be holding in the coming months. This meeting is also designed to prepare for a higher level meeting in Nassau, Bahamas where, at a ministerial level, (we) will endorse the progress that has been made so far and point to other areas where we could work in the future,” he said.
Asked about the continuing support for the Caribbean, Hardt said, “In the first year, we provided US$45M, and in the second year we provided US$77M.”
He explained that it is unclear what the level of financing from the U.S. will be for the coming year, “but we are in the process of ensuring that that funding is targeted to the priority areas our partners in the Caribbean identified.”
“We discussed together [to determine] where that funding can have the most impact,” he said. “A 70 per cent increase in funding [in the second year over the first] is very significant, especially in the kind of budget climate (that) reflects the commitment we have to the Caribbean Region,” he said.
“Guyana will be receiving some riverine patrol craft from the CBSI, and some communications equipment, which would allow law enforcement authorities to coordinate and communicate over great distances – in the sea, over land, in the air – which could be a great challenge when you are trying to track people,” he said.
Speaking on the opening day of the meeting, on Friday, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had stressed the need for there to be partnerships integral to the Regional and hemispheric crime fight.