00:00June is Caribbean American Heritage Month, and Essence recently joined Vice President Kamala
00:08Harris aboard Air Force Two as she traveled to the Bahamas. Hi, Essence. Well, we just landed
00:15here in the Bahamas where I am co-hosting a meeting of CARICOM leaders. The one-day visit
00:21marked the VP's first trip to the region since taking office to meet with Caribbean leaders.
00:26She received a ceremonial welcome at the airport in Nassau, and people also lined the streets
00:32to see the motorcade pass by as she made her way to Atlantis Paradise Island. Vice President
00:38Harris convened the high-level meeting along with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis and
00:43leaders of the 15-member Caribbean community known as CARICOM. This meeting was held to
00:49advance initiatives on some of the Caribbean's most pressing issues, including the climate
00:54crisis, weapons trafficking, and humanitarian aid. Implementation of these reforms will
01:01have a major impact on countries in the Caribbean, and we aim to achieve these key reforms by the
01:08G20 meeting this fall. The Vice President announced that the U.S. will invest more than $100 million
01:15dollars in the Caribbean region to tackle those issues. The VP's visit to the Bahamas was historic,
01:21as she's the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the island nation since its independence in 1973.
01:28This visit was also symbolic, as Kabla Harris is the first Black and Caribbean-American Vice President
01:36of the United States.
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