Lazarus Chakwera for strong Africa-Caribbean ties
President Lazarus Chakwera Tuesday took part in the inaugural Africa-Caribbean Community (Caricom) Summit and joined other leaders in calling for strong ties between the two regions.
Caricom is a group of 20 developing countries in the Caribbean that have come together to form an economic and political community that shapes policies for the region and encourages economic growth and trade.
Speaking during the summit, which was virtually hosted by Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta under the theme ‘Unity Across Continents and Oceans: Opportunities for Deepening Integration’, Chakwera, who is also Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Chairperson, said the summit would be the long-awaited catalyst for building bridges to prosperity for the people of the two regions.
“Deepening our integration is no longer a luxury, but a necessity whose time has come. Our world is facing numerous challenges, the ravages of poverty, climate change and Covid chief among them, exacerbated by inequalities of access to their solutions.
“Such global crises demand the consolidated perspective of our regions. We need to stand together to ensure [that] solutions to global challenges protect our people’s dignity and promote our shared interests, such as our desire to see greater economic trade and investment between Africa and Caricom member states,” Chakwera said.
The Malawi leader said, by standing together, the people of the two regions make it clear that they are neither small nor helpless.
According to Chakwera, Sadc embraces and celebrates the inaugural Africa-Caricom Summit as a milestone towards the creation of a grand coalition of like-minded and like-mannered nations.
“Beyond embracing and celebrating it, we fully intend to leverage the opportunities for partnership that it avails for the meaningful improvement of the lives of our citizens.
“Toward that end, we seek to build on already existing engagements between some Sadc member states and Caribbean member states to increase investment, collaboration, trade, learning and exchange between the two regions,” Chakwera said.
On his part, Kenyatta said the ties between Africa and the Caribbean were strong, necessitating the need for the two regions to boost their relations.
The summit focused on thematic areas such as the promotion of trade, investment and economic integration, transport integration, the mitigation of the impact of the Covid pandemic, the ocean agenda and sustainable blue economy, climate change and leveraging emerging technologies.
