Canada's ambassador to CARICOM talks to WIC News

The strength of CARICOM as a platform to ensure member nations can achieve their full potential among the most important elements, believes Chatterjee.

“CARICOM is a great way for this group of countries, who have given so much to the world, to come together and work in each other’s benefit and be represented properly on the world stage.”

On Canada’s introduction of the requirement for visas for certain CARICOM countries including St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda, Ms. Chatterjee was keen to distance Canada from the EU’s position on CARICOM passports and insisted this move had “nothing to do with tax” and “everything to do with security.”

The case of Alizera Moghadam was one that brought things to a head and made Canada take action. Mr. Moghadam travelled to Canada on a diplomatic passport he claimed to have brought for $1m dollars.

“St.Kitts has made a great contribution to Canada. This is not a move against the people or culture of St.Kitts.” Asked whether CBI Programmes were causing damage to global relations, Ambassador Chatterjee said that they did not inherently do so and that CARICOM countries had seen much growth because of them.

“It’s just, wherever they are used improperly … or by individuals who pose a threat, we cannot take that risk. It’s not our place to talk about the individual programmes run by independent states – these are sovereign nations capable of making their own decisions – but we cannot allow our security to be compromised.”

She said she hoped to develop strong, mutually beneficial ties with the CARICOM nations and said that Canada will always be friendly towards progressive nations.

Ambassador Chatterjee’s parting thought was a rather profound one. She said that the collective group of CARICOM countries are extremely strong together because of each member’s individual qualities. “We should appreciate CARICOM as a means to see a collection of individually beautiful nations working together on one forum.”