00:00St. Lucia's Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre told the closing news conference he was extremely pleased with the outcome of
00:06the deliberations.
00:08The decisions we have taken this week, we assume that CARICOM remains united in purpose and determined in action.
00:16Together, we'll continue building a Caribbean that is more resilient, more prosperous, more connected, and better prepared for future generations.
00:27Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister Kamala Pusad-Bissessa, who since her return to office in April last year has enjoyed
00:35a stormy relationship with the rest of CARICOM, said she is now looking forward to a much more harmonious relationship
00:41with the group in.
00:42I have not changed in that position. However, some matters discussed in the recent days, I think we've been able,
00:52through the chairmanship of Prime Minister Peer,
00:54and of course with the cooperation of the other heads that we've been able to iron out some of the
00:58concerns I had.
00:59So my position has not changed. I remain committed to the CARICOM. We will have issues from day to day,
01:06from time to time.
01:08In a family, you have issues, you have issues of concern, and my position is that we must raise them.
01:14We must not put our heads down in the sand like ostriches. We raise them when they are and try
01:20to find resolutions.
01:21So we've been able, in this 51st CARICOM heads meeting, to iron out some of those differences, and I think
01:29we are better as we go forward.
01:31The leaders discussed a wide range of issues, from the cost of living, food security, economic resilience, health, climate change,
01:40and reparatory justice.
01:42But the issues that have been driving policies in the past few months remained without a clear position.
01:48For instance, on the issue of Cuba, while regional leaders expressed support for dealing with the humanitarian crisis in that
01:57country,
01:57there was acknowledgement that the situation in Havana is not an easy issue.
02:03The heads discussed this matter. This is not an easy issue.
02:08And I think that we are agreed that the discussions and the debate must take place,
02:15but without prejudice to any discussions and debate for a peaceful resolution of what is transpiring with Cuba,
02:23that there is a humanitarian crisis.
02:26And you cannot continue to ignore that reality.
02:30The United States of America, I believe, has said itself that it will contribute to the relief of the humanitarian
02:36crisis.
02:37The Caribbean has been resolute in saying that we want to do it.
02:43St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister, Dr. Terence Drew, who spent seven years studying medicine in Havana,
02:50told reporters that the region continues to be touched by the humanitarian crisis in Cuba.
02:56And, of course, for all of us here in Caracom and in the region, we are very touched by what
03:02has happened.
03:04We, under my chairmanship, we discussed putting a fund together for humanitarian relief.
03:10And I am happy to report, Prime Minister, I just got the update that you mentioned the money was returned
03:17three times,
03:18but I can say it has now been accepted at the fourth time.
03:21And so we are now expecting to deliver the first batch of baby milk.
03:27Different countries have delivered for different things,
03:30and we hope that that gets to the children of Cuba as soon and as quickly as possible.
03:36The regional leaders said that they had also discussed the United States policy as it relates to third-country refugees.
03:45Under that program, Washington is asking individual Caribbean countries to accept refugees
03:52or undocumented migrants who entered the U.S. illegally.
03:57Prime Minister Pierre said that the meeting had not discussed the citizenship by investment program, the CBI,
04:04even though Europe and the United States have linked their visa policies to that program.
04:11Under that program, foreign investors are granted citizenship of some of these islands in the Caribbean
04:17in return for making a substantial investment in the socioeconomic development.
04:24The CIP program only exists in a few islands of Caracom.
04:31St. Benson, no, St. sorry, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, Antigua, and St. Kitts.
04:40So we see it more as an issue that we discuss among ourselves,
04:46and at the larger CARACOM level, it was not discussed.
04:54It was not discussed because we are the only – but I'll tell you what.
04:58We've been trying our best to follow best practice.
05:02We've been trying our best to ensure that all the requirements that we are asked for, we've met them.
05:10The latest requirement that we have a unified regulatory body, we've done that through the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.
05:22All the due diligence procedures that we are asked to do, we take these steps.
05:29But each country has a right to impose its own domestic policy, and we are in no position to tell
05:38anybody what to do as far as their domestic policy is concerned.
05:41So regardless of what we do, if Europe decides that it does not want us to have a CIP program,
05:47that's what is going to happen.
05:50Each country has its own domestic policies, and if for their own reasons that is decided by Europe, by countries
05:59in Europe, that they do not want to say I do program,
06:01there is literally nothing we can do under these circumstances.
06:06But we're going to follow all what they've asked us to do.
06:13And we've gone – and in terms of history, we have been there before.
06:18We've done – or we took all the steps as far as our bananas were concerned, and we still lost
06:25treatment of our bananas as far as our sugar cleaning is concerned.
06:29So we've gone there before.
06:31We've been there before, and we've already survived, and I'm sure we'll continue to survive.
06:36On the issue of climate change, the regional leaders reaffirmed the commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees
06:44Celsius
06:45and to advocating for the special circumstances of small island-developing states.
06:51Peter Richards reporting for CCN TV6 News from St. Lucia.
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