
By Orville Williams
Antigua and Barbuda is among the 15 Caricom member states journeying to Canada in about a week to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the “first Canada-Caricom Summit on Canadian soil”.
The announcement of the summit came in a press statement dated October 4, which also revealed that Trudeau would co-chair the event – which is scheduled to run from October 17 to 19 – alongside the current Chair of Caricom, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
“As Caricom celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, the summit will highlight Canada’s strong ties with the Caribbean and provide an opportunity for leaders to continue to strengthen cooperation and chart a better future for people in both regions,” the statement continued.
PM Trudeau last met with his Caricom counterparts in the Bahamas back in February, during the 44th heads of government meeting, hosted by Bahamas PM Philip Davis and his government.
There, Trudeau declared that there were many issues for them to collectively tackle, including addressing the crisis in Haiti, delivering on climate action and unearthing new opportunities for socio-economic development.
The three-term PM also announced $10 million “to support the International Office on Migration to strengthen the protection and resilience of Haitian women and children along the Haiti-Dominican Republic border and in migrants’ place of origin”, and “an additional $12.3 million in humanitarian assistance”.
Under the upcoming summit’s theme of “Strategic Partners for a Resilient Future”, Trudeau and the Caricom leaders will advance shared priorities, including building inclusive and sustainable economies, increasing trade and investment, and promoting multilateral collaboration.
The leaders will “work to fight climate change and address its impacts in the Caribbean, including by exploring ways to improve access to financing for small island developing states in the Caribbean”.
Trudeau is also expected to “highlight the importance of reinforcing democratic values, promoting human rights and the rules-based international order, and strengthening coordination on regional security, including responding to the ongoing security, political, and humanitarian crises in Haiti”.
The Caricom leaders will then have an opportunity to engage with Canadian business leaders and investors to “further commercial opportunities in the region”.
Antigua and Barbuda will be represented at the summit by non-resident High Commissioner to Canada, Sir Ronald Sanders, who also serves as the country’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS).
It is unclear whether Sir Ronald or any other potential member of the delegation will take the opportunity to advance some of the government’s bilateral concerns with Canada, immigration perhaps being the most pressing.
The Canadian government revoked Antigua and Barbuda’s visa-free access to its borders back in 2017 and that remains the case to date, despite persistent pleas from local officials.
Prime Minister Gaston Browne also revealed last year that discussions had taken place about the possibility of a Canadian “satellite office” being established in Antigua, to provide visa services to residents here and possibly persons from other islands in the northern Caribbean.
There has, however, been no word on the status of those discussions of late.