TORTOLA, BVI – The British Virgin Islands (BVI) has called for a new era of cooperation between Latin America and the Caribbean to help accelerate the Caribbean’s development at the recently concluded 22nd Meeting of the Monitoring Committee (MonCom) of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
BVI special envoy Benito Wheatley, who serves as a CDCC vice chair urged Caribbean governments to take advantage of the opportunities presented by South-South cooperation between Latin America and Caribbean.
In his official statement to the meeting on the value of South-South cooperation to the Caribbean, Wheatley said:
“The Caribbean is very small in geographic and economic terms. We are often not at the top table of global affairs where decisions are made that affect our interests. The subregion remains highly vulnerable with respect to climate change, sustainable development, marine biodiversity, international trade and international finance, among other things. However, our ability to influence these issues and global affairs is considerably strengthened when we act in concert with the Global South. Here in the Western Hemisphere, Latin America is the Caribbean’s major Global South partner.”
Wheatley added: “The Caribbean must be clear on the place of South-South cooperation as a dimension of the subregion’s development cooperation. It can help Middle and High-Income developing countries to get the development assistance they still need, including the associate members of ECLAC.”
He also reminded delegates of the international framework for support to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) who have been universally acknowledged as a special case for sustainable development.
“The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) is our guide to cooperation and partnerships for the growth and development of SIDS. And it is within that framework we can consider South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation,” Wheatley said.
The BVI special envoy called on the Caribbean as a subregion to improve its readiness to engage with Latin America to optimise the benefits of cooperation across the wider region and to strengthen the Caribbean’s participation and role in multilateralism and international fora.
Wheatley chaired the seminar on South-South cooperation on day one of the two-day inter-governmental meeting on behalf of CDCC Chairman Senator Dr Kennedy Swaratsingh, minister of planning and economic development of Trinidad and Tobago.
The 22nd Session of the Monitoring Committee Meeting of the CDCC was held from 8-9 December under the theme “South-South cooperation as a catalyst – unlocking Caribbean potential for sustainable growth and development” and celebrated the 50th anniversary of CDCC’s existence. The CDCC is a subsidiary body of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The British Virgin Islands is a vice chair of the 40th Session of UN ECLAC, a vice of the 30th Session of the CDCC, a vice chair of the 2nd Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, and chair of the ECLAC associate members Working Group.
