India-CARICOM Summit: PM Keith Rowley to boost regional ties with India

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley on November 20 is set to join other Caricom leaders in Guyana for the upcoming India-CARICOM Summit. 

The 2nd annual summit is scheduled to take place from November 20 to 24, 2024 at Georgetown’s Marriot Hotel and is anticipated to deepen ties between all the leaders. 

This major initiative is aimed at deepening relations, forging greater trade and investment partnership and increasing developmental cooperation between the regional body and India.

According to the information, PM Rowley will be meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the summit. This historic meeting will be addressing several significant areas of cooperation including trade, security and development.

Dr Rowley is also set for a bilateral discussion with the Indian Prime Minister during which he will highlight the commitment to boosting ties between Trinidad and Tobago, CARICOM and India. 

During the meeting, he is also expected to talk about a number of issues being faced by Trinidad and Tobago and other small island nations such as climate change in a bid to join him in this ongoing battle against the developed world.

Trinidad and Tobago will be represented at the significant summit by a delegation led by Rowley and it will include Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, Amery Browne. 

Browne noted that the agenda and other details of this summit have been the subject of consultation and input from Trinidad and Tobago as well as other CARICOM member states and PM Rowley’s keen interest in ensuring its success. 

Notably, the opening ceremony on November 20, 2024 will feature remarks from the Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr Keith Rowley, President of Guyana, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali and Secretary General of CARICOM, Dr Carla Barnett. 

It is anticipated that other attendees to the summit will be delegations from all the CARICOM member states including Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. 

The four day event will see significant discussions in several areas of cooperation between India and the CARICOM region such as trade, education, healthcare and much more.

The first summit was held in the margins of the 74th UNGA – United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2019. It will be one of a series of meetings being held in Guyana throughout the month of November. 

Additionally, the official government sources revealed that the meeting will be a historic one that is predicted to further boost the bilateral relationship between both regions in the fields of energy and infrastructure, health, agriculture, technology, innovation as well as human resources.

The arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also being seen as a significant milestone for the small islands as it will be any Indian Prime Minister’s first visit since 1968. The Commonwealth of Dominica has also announced that it will be bestowing its highest national award, the Dominica Award of Honour, upon PM Modi during the upcoming summit. 

This award will be in recognition of the Indian’s leader’s immense contributions to Dominica during the period of global pandemic as well as his dedication to boosting the partnership between the two nations. 

With the upcoming summit, it is anticipated that it will pave the way for enhanced bilateral cooperation, especially in the area of trade. 

He said during the period of April 2018 to March 2019, India’s trade with CARICOM was fixed at US$674.32 million and it is being believed that immense opportunities exist for both regions to further enhance bilateral trade in areas such as agriculture and food security, health, small and medium enterprises, marine development and oceanography and disaster management.