Envoy calls for closer LatAm ties

The Virgin Islands’ special envoy has called for closer collaboration between Latin America and the Caribbean, arguing that deeper cross-border ties are critical to accelerating development across the region.

Benito Wheatley made the call last month at the 22nd Meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee in Port of Spain, Trinidad, according to a press release he circulated afterwards.

Mr. Wheatley, who is currently the CDCC vice chair, urged Caribbean governments to take better advantage of “south-south” cooperation opportunities with Latin America.

“The Caribbean is very small in geographic and economic terms,” he said in his official statement at the event. “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.”

By working with the Global South, he added, the Caribbean can better influence global affairs.

“Here in the Western Hemisphere, Latin America is the Caribbean’s major Global South partner,” he said.

‘South-south’ links

The envoy called for such cooperation to be recognised as a key pillar of the region’s development strategy, particularly for middle-and-high-income developing countries that still require international support.

“The Caribbean must be clear on the place of south-south cooperation as a dimension of the subregion’s development cooperation,” he said. “It can help middle and high-income developing countries to get the development assistance they still need, including the associate members” of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Regional framework

As an example framework for guiding regional cooperation, Mr. Wheatley reminded delegates of the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States, according to his press release.

“The Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) is our guide to cooperation and partnerships for the growth and development of SIDS,” he said. “And it is within that framework we can consider south-south cooperation and triangular cooperation.”

On the first day of the two-day intergovernmental meeting, Mr. Wheatley also chaired a seminar on “south-south cooperation” on behalf of CDCC Chairman Kennedy Swaratsingh, who is Trinidad and Tobago’s minister of planning and economic development, according to his press release.

50th anniversary

The meeting — which was held from Dec. 8-9 under the theme “South-South cooperation as a catalyst: unlocking Caribbean potential for sustainable growth and development” — marked the CDCC’s 50th anniversary.

The CDCC is a subsidiary body of UN ECLAC.

The VI currently serves as a vice chair of the 40th session of ECLAC; a vice chair of the 30th session of the CDCC; a vice chair of the second Regional Conference on South-South Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean; and chair of the ECLAC Associate Members Working Group.