By Garfield L. Angus
KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) – A call has been made for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) States to maximise economic opportunities being provided through the African Union (AU), under its Agenda 2063.
South Africa’s minister of international relations and cooperation, Dr Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor, who made the call, said the AU plans have everything that the Continent wants to achieve with their “development ambitions set out very well.”
“It sets out phased implementation of the various priorities, so it gives us a useful blueprint which we should utilise as a foundation for our countries’ cooperation,” the minister said, while delivering a lecture on March 21, at the University of the West Indies.
Agenda 2063 is Africa’s blueprint and master plan for transforming Africa into the global powerhouse of the future.
“It is the continent’s strategic framework that aims to deliver on its goal for inclusive and sustainable development and is a concrete manifestation of the pan-African drive for unity, self-determination, freedom, progress, and collective prosperity pursued under Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance,” Dr Pandor said.
Referring to CARICOM as the AU’s Sixth Region, the minister argued that the two bodies should work together and develop a “well-designed” and shared agenda to enhance their coordinated collaboration for priorities under the Agenda.
She underscored that through the Continental Free Trade Area Agreement, and through economic diplomacy, CARICOM stands to benefit from engaging with its African partners, and her country is keen on facilitating free trade between CARICOM and the continent.
Minister Pandor’s lecture was titled ‘The Road to Development: Connecting the Diaspora, and the Role of CARICOM in the Realisation of Agenda 2063,’ told the audience that the “urgent need to establish sustained cooperation programmes between us must be addressed by CARICOM and the African Union”.
The minister arrived on March 20, on a four-day working visit to the island engaged in discussions with the Government and civil society.