Africa-Caribbean regions hold inaugural summit

The leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Africa held their inaugural summit on Tuesday to discuss ways the regions can grow on a united front.

Kenya chaired the virtual summit under the theme ‘Unity Across Continents and Oceans: Opportunities for Deepening Integration.”

Speaking during the event, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said, “Your excellencies, today we are taking the first of our baby steps in what promises to be an incredible journey in forging incredible ties with Africans at home, those in the diaspora as well as all people of African descent.”

He also advocated for the forging of closer working partnerships between African and Caribbean nations so as to raise their power of overcoming common challenges such as Covid-19, climate change and public debt.

President Kenyatta said leaders of the two regions need to deepen the existing historical and cultural ties that bind their nations so as to build strong socio-economic and political linkages that will promote shared prosperity and social progress.

CARICOM Chairman and Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne urged leaders to utilize their force as a bloc of 69 countries to negotiate with global institutions.

The summit, he said, was also in a sense fulfilling an important aspiration of the pioneers of pan-Africanism, and, within a contemporary context, of the African Union's (AU) Agenda 2063.

The Africa-Caribbean Community summit arises from the 33rd Session (2020) of the African Union which affirmed the strong cultural and historical linkages between the people of Africa and Africa Diaspora and all people of African descent.

The session committed to strengthening these linkages and adopted a declaration on Promoting closer collaboration between People of African Descent in the Caribbean and Pacific Regions.