ACCEPTING Chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Friday, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, said that some of the areas he intends to place focus on the next six months include the interconnectedness of COVID-19; socio-economic recovery; the coordination of regional air transport and more.

The handover ceremony was held virtually as the 20th Special Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM. This is the second time that Gonsalves will serve as CARICOM Chair and, like all others, his tenure will run for six months.

In accepting his place as the new CARICOM Chair, Dr. Gonsalves pinpointed his key areas of focus as COVID-19 and interconnectedness to health, the economy, society and security; coordination of regional air transport; socio-economic recovery of the Region; strengthening the Region’s resilience against multiple vulnerabilities; shaping a new, more inclusive global order and uplifting the Caribbean civilisation.

He said that while the union is “far from perfect”, he is certain that, working together, the Region’s nations can “build a CARICOM that is better and stronger”. He said that this is imperative as natural and global economic challenges continue to rise in their magnitude and consistency. Even so, Gonsalves praised the community’s impressive achievements, noting that there were both possibilities and limitations in the design of the integration movement.

“Our CARICOM has chalked up impressive achievements in its four pillars of integration: functional cooperation, coordination of foreign policy, security collaboration, and economic integration, including single market trading arrangements. But the design of CARICOM itself highlights its possibilities and limitations…CARICOM was conceived and fashioned as a community of independent, sovereign states entirely combined to pursue a series of objectives, measures and tasks,” he said.

The Prime Minister said that CAIRCOM continues to serve as the Region’s “salvation” during the pandemic, climate change and matters of global political economy. In light of that, he thanked the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), and CARICOM Implementing Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) for their stellar work.

He, altogether, accepted the Chairmanship of the Community with “humility and enduring obligation”. “Let us build further upon our solid accomplishments in this our remarkable Region and magnificent Caribbean civilisation. This building of our regional civilisation is a great cause, and great causes have never been won by doubtful men and women,” he said.