During 2022, arduous efforts were made in the interest of ensuring the integration process improves people´s lives.

“There are many things we can look back with pride and celebrate about our integration movement,” Barnett stressed.

She mentioned that, as the oldest economic integration movement among developing countries, CARICOM hosted regional organizations from Africa and the Pacific who wanted to “learn from our operations, systems and structures.”

The agreement earlier this year on a Protocol to amend the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas was a clear demonstration of our dynamic nature, she noted.

Heads of government also agreed to review governance systems within the Community to facilitate more effective decision-making and ensure follow-up on common agenda, Barnet added.

One of the key actions in this regard has been to increase the frequency of virtual meetings, with two face-to-face meetings a year, she said.

Barnett described the signing of the St. George’s Declaration on the Reduction of Roaming Charges as an important step in the progress of the Single Space for Information and Communication Technologies, as well as the Single Market and Economy.

CARICOM secretary-general remarked Haitians really need all hands-on deck as they seek to solve the multifaceted crises the country is currently facing.

She addressed discussions on climate change and described that COP27 in Egypt, while agreeing to the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund, yet to be fully defined and established, caused disappointment in small island and low-lying coastal developing states.

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