CARICOM Kicks Off; Who's In Attendance? And What Happened At Breakfast?

Today the CARICOM Heads of Government held the first working or plenary session or the thirty third inter-sessional meeting.

The major regional meeting is being hosted on San Pedro at the Grand Caribe Hotel. And while it has been overshadowed by a skirmish between Channel 7 and the Government Press Office - the meeting is a marquee political event featuring 12 regional leaders. Jules Vasquez tells us who's here - and what Cherisse Halsall did to try and cover the event:

The CARICOM leaders who have arrived for the first face to face meeting in two years are:

Prime Minister of the Bahamas - Phillip Edward Davis, who is accompanied by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Frederick Mitchell.

Next on the list alphabetically is Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley - who is accompanied by her Minister of Foreign Affairs Jerome Walcott.

Dr Natalio Wheatery is the Duty Premier of the British Virgin Islands

And Roosevelt Skerritt - who has visited Belize before is the Prime Minister of Dominica.

And he is accompanied by Dr. Kenneth Darroux, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Business and Diaspora Relation

Grenada's Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell arrived at nightfall.

While Guyana's President Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali is accompanied by his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hugh Todd.

Haiti's Prime Minister Dr Ariel Henry is accompanied by his Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus

Montserrat's Premier and Minister of Finance Joseph Pharrell is accompanied by his minister of External Affairs, Alva Baptiste

Saint Kitts and Nevis is represented by Ambassadors Vance Armory and Lionel Osbourne

St Vincent and the Grenadines is represented by its Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel and Minister of Agriculture Saboto Caesar

Suriname's President is Chandrikapersad Snatokhi And Charles Misick is the Premier of Turks and Caicos

The leaders and their delegations gathered for breakfast this morning near the Grand Caribe pool in advance of the first day of meetings

Which is where Cherisse Halsall tried to get her standup done - just like she had seen a Caribbean colleague do. She fought for space to do just that with the director of the press office:

Cherisse Halsall
"Soh, why he could get his stand-up and I can't get mine?"

Mike Rudon, Press Office
"Cherisse, the media is not allowed. You see where the cordon is, that is where the media should be - outside of that. We will have the opening where we will allow cameras in there."

Cherisse Halsall
"I am not going to the opening. I just want to do one, 10 minutes stand-up in front of this Grand Caribe sign and I will be out of here forever."

After that Rudon called in the Special Unit Police:

Police
"Morning, ma'am I am Cpl from Special Branch, for security purposes, you cannot be here recording. As the man informed you. As far as I am concerned, you cannot be here."

Police
"Please leave, or we might have to escort you."

Cherisse Halsall
"I think it might have to come to that."

Police
"You have to deal with foreign affairs, they gave us strict instructions that you guy need to have some identification."

Cherisse Halsall
"We have identification on the shirt and everybody knows where we are from."

Halsall tried to plea her case and the back and forth continued with the police for another few minutes -

Cherisse Halsall
"Hi Jules, foreign affairs is removing us from the scene."

Rosanna Briceno, Special Envoy
"Hey, don't touch her."

That's the Prime Minister's wife, special Envoy Rossana Briceno as they unhand Cherisse, but keep pushing the camera man out - all the way through the lobby to the street. An unfortunate moment but the meeting continued and moved from breakfast to opening ceremony without a glitch

With Prime Minister Briceno taking center stage as the chairman and host.

Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"I hope that you have been well taken care of - if you have been well taken care of, that's all my work. If anything went wrong, then its Minister Courtenay's fault, so you can start with that right."

After an opening ceremony the heads of government got into their two day working session with both face to face and virtual elements.

With at least grudging respect for social distance protocols

Channel 7

Day One of the CARICOM Inter-Sessional on San Pedro

CARICOM Heads of Government are gathering in person for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The thirty-third Inter-Sessional is being held in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye. A number of issues relating to the Caribbean community are on the agenda for the two-day event. But, as is standard practice for such international events, the working sessions are closed door. This means no press, international or local, are allowed in. However, before these began, News Five's Paul Lopez was following the opening ceremonies this morning. Here is his report of that event.

Paul Lopez, Stand Up

Meetings between CARICOM's Heads of Government officially began today with an opening session on San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye. Representatives from CARICOM member states converged inside the West Room at Grand Caribe Resort. Prime Minister John Brice�o and CARICOM Secretary General, Carla Barnett addressed the opening session.

Prime Minister John Brice�o

"A warm welcome to Belize. I am happy to welcome you all to San Pedro Ambergris Caye, better known as La Isla Bonita. San Pedro is an island that attracts many local and foreign tourists for leisure, which unfortunately many of us will not get to fully enjoy this week."

The next two days will be filled with meetings and discussion between Heads of Government in this room and those attending virtually. Topics like the unrest in Haiti and the effects of Climate Change on the Caribbean are at the top of the agenda.

Prime Minister John Brice�o

"Beaches here are eroding because of rising sea levels. Belize's Barrier Reef, a World Heritage Site is struggling due to coral bleaching. A growing population is testing the limits of the island's capacity. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a devastating blow to San Pedro's lucrative tourism industry."

Acting President of Haiti, Ariel Henry, is present at this week's high level meeting. The humanitarian and leadership crisis is also one of the issues being discussed by Heads of Government.� Also a priority on the agenda is the Caribbean's COVID-19 plan of recovery.

Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary General, CARICOM

"Significant obstacles still lay in our path. Much of our citizens remain unvaccinated. Too many of our children are still out of school. Too many of our businesses are still floundering with the result and effect of unemployment. However, one thing we have learnt over the forty plus years of our existence is that we are a resilient community, bound together particular in times of adversity. Such is this time."

Most Caribbean countries function on a service driven economy, particularly in the tourism industry. Marketing the Caribbean as a single product could boost the region's recovery efforts says Dr. Barnett. Additionally, CARICOM leaders have agreed to reduce extra-regional agro-food imports by twenty five percent by 2025.

Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary General, CARICOM

"Chair, heads of government, distinguished delegates, as we look forward to the significant milestone in 2023 of fifty years of CARICOM, we can celebrate our achievements across the four pillars of our integration movement. What we must also do is look forward to those achievements as the foundation for building a resilient Caribbean community, based on rule of law, participatory governance, social, economic and environmental resilient. In short, a place where our people live in a safe, prosperous, and viable society."

Channel 5

Belize Officially Assumes Protem Chair Of Caricom

And from the arrival of the different CARICOM leaders, we turn now to today's opening ceremony when Belize, the host country of the 2-day forum, officially took over as the Protem Chair of CARICOM.

That ceremony was broadcasted live this morning from San Pedro, and Daniel Ortiz reports on a few of the highlights. Here's his story:

This morning's ceremony marked the opening of the 33rd CARICOM Inter-sessional Meeting of Heads of Government.

But, it also finalized the handing-over of the rotating chairmanship from Prime Minister Gaston Brown and the Country of Antigua and Barbuda, to Prime Minister John Briceno and the country of Belize.

Hon. John Briceno - New Chair, CARICOM
"I hope that you have been well taken care of. If you've been well taken care of, that's all my work. If anything went wrong, well then, it's Minister Courtenay's fault. So, we can start with that, right?"

Dr. Carla Barnett - Secretary-General, CARICOM
"Let welcome to the Chairmanship of the Conference of the Heads of Government for the first time our host, the Prime Minister of Belize, Hon. John Briceno. I have no doubt that his experience and skills will be of great benefit as he leads our community in this uncertain time."

Hon. Gaston Browne - Outgoing Chair, CARICOM
"After 6 months as chairman in office of CARICOM, I hand the gavel of leadership to my colleague and friend, the Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceno. In doing so, I offer him my full support, as I'm sure all my colleagues do. Our unit and solidarity in CARICOM will be a vital and necessary element in the strength and stability of our organization, as we face a world in flux."

Prime Minister Briceno takes over the chairmanship during the tenure of Belize's Dr. Carla Barnett, the CARICOM Secretary-General.

Dr. Carla Barnett
"It is my pleasure to welcome you all and to address this opening session of the 33rd Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. I am particularly pleased that this, my first address to this forum as secretary-general is taking place in my home country. We gather together around the table, rather than virtually for the first time in almost 2 years. The circumstances that occasioned that hiatus are still with us. We are learning to live with it, and to conduct our affairs in what can only be described as the new normal."

In their remarks, the keynote speakers reflected on shared challenges that residents of the Caribbean collectively face.

Dr. Carla Barnett
"Much too many of our citizens remain unvaccinated. Too many of our children are still out of school. Too many of our businesses are still floundering with the resultant effect on unemployment. However, one thing we have learned over the 49 years of our existence is that we are a resilient community."

Hon. Gaston Browne
"We must, however, continue to be vigilant in managing the threats of de-risking, the threats associated with the proposed global minimum cooperation tax, and sanction listings of so-called uncooperative jurisdictions by the OECD and the European Union. We must also enhance our negotiations of the EBA to ensure that it delivers the promised benefits to all its members, including the LDCs within CARICOM."

Hon. John Briceno
"I'm well aware of the criticism in many quarters, and perhaps well-founded about the state of our integration. For many, we are not moving fast enough or going deep enough. Others feel that their fledging national identity is at risk. But, none have challenged the inevitability of integration for our small Caribbean States. Integration is not only a [inaudible] for our development. It is also imperative for our recovery."

Hon. Gaston Browne
"It is not a secret that the result of COP-26 fell far short of expectations, and continue advocacy to push the major polluters of the world, to reduce emissions, to take mitigating actions, and to contain rising temperatures to remain 1.5 degrees [Celsius] of pre-industrial levels. The provision of affordable broadband is a public good, as vital as the provision of water or electricity, and this should remain a regional priority. Diversification and rapid economic expansion through digitalization require widespread enhancement of our information and communication technology infrastructure. Therefore, the cost of telecommunications and access to cheaper and more efficient broadband is quintessential for robust economic growth and development."

And of course, there is a renewed call for closer regional integration and the removal of all artificial barriers to trade. Belize, the new Protem Chair of CARICOM is well aware of those barriers since it recently picked a legal fight with Trinidad & Tobago, a fellow CARICOM Nation.

Hon. Gaston Browne
"I believe that CARICOM has learned from these developments to rely more and more on our own initiatives and our own resources to produce, buy and consume local and regional products as a priority for increased product security, profitability and sustainability."

Hon. John Briceno
"Colleagues, Prime Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, the CSME is at the center of our integration. Reflecting on our undertakings in the St. Anne Declaration of 2018, we need to redouble our efforts to complete the removal of the remaining barriers to inter-regional trade, empower our private sector, and full effect to the regime for free movement, including by addressing administrative obstacles. The CSME is the answer to the questions of how do we reduce the region's food import bill, how do we generate economic growth, how we improve and benefit more from trade with extra-regional partners. A robust CSME is indispensable to building resilient economies. It is central to our economic recovery."

Dr. Carla Barnett
"Let us set a target to lift intra-regional trade out of the doldrums of 16 to 18% of our total trade into 25% by 2025. This can be fueled in large measure by the agricultural sector. The proposal put forward to this meeting by the special ministerial task force on agriculture is worthy of favorable consideration."

The 33rd CARICOM Inter-sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government will continue tomorrow, and we'll have some of the important takeaways in our Wednesday newscast.

Channel 7