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Within the past 24 hours, Barbados signed new agreements with
two of its CARICOM neighbours, providing for enhanced cooperation
between the governments and the exploitation of opportunities in
several areas of economic activity for their people.
The Agreement for a Strategic Dialogue and Cooperation Platform
between Barbados and Suriname was signed by Prime Minister Mia Amor
Mottley and President of Suriname Chandrikapersad Santokhi at the
Presidential Palace in Paramaribo on Monday night, while the
Barbados/Guyana agreement was signed during a break from talks at
the 43rd Regular Meeting CARICOM Heads of Government [on
Tuesday].
Responding to the assurance from the Surinamese president that
he would hold his ministers and officers to a standard that would
ensure the people of the two countries receive maximum benefit from
the agreement, Ms. Mottley said:
“The truth is that we have seen already, substantive
engagement between our private sectors. We’ve seen
substantive engagement with ordinary people in sports and in other
areas. And we are also seeing a very strong and continuous
relationship with the government and people of Suriname, because we
believe that we have an obligation to work with people in our
neighborhood.
“And you are one of those who, for every reason, it is
only language and history that have separated us thus far. And we
have come to this point over the last few years to say that that
should no longer be a barrier.
“Suriname is a major player in fisheries. Suriname is the
location of CAHFSA, which is responsible for the regulation of
sanitary and phytosanitary measures within our community. And if we
want to expand our trade in food, if we want to have food security,
CAHFSA is going to play a critical role in allowing us to be able
to do so.”
Promising that Barbados would share what little it has with its
neighbours in Suriname, who were badly affected by flooding in
recent weeks because “today for you, tomorrow for me”,
the Prime Minister added:
“President Santohki, we have worked perhaps closer in the
last two years because of COVID, and the truth is, even though it
led to a hiatus in the Brokopondo Agreement, … particularly
with the physical exchange, especially when we were getting ready
to do the exchange of workers in the agricultural sector and
persons coming here, what we have been able to do in the interim
has been to cooperate significantly with respect to issues with the
pandemic and with climate. And we want to build on that going
forward now.”
Meanwhile, the St. Barnabas Accord, which was negotiated in
Barbados, and signed in Suriname [on Tuesday], provides for
interaction between the two countries on:
Agriculture, Aquaculture and Food Security
Mining and Quarrying
Tourism and International Transport
Trade and Business Development
Energy
Manufacturing
Education, Technical and Vocational Training, including Capacity
Building
Cooperation in Security
Bilateral Integration Measures.
Particularly in the area of agriculture, on which the two
leaders have spoken extensively in recent months, the St. Barnabas
Accord states that Barbados and Guyana have agreed to the
following:
- twinning of work programmes of Ministries responsible for
Agriculture; - placement of officials in each other’s Ministry of
Agriculture; - creation of Joint Working Group on Food and Nutritional
Security comprising Ministries responsible for agriculture and
health, state-owned agricultural and marketing corporations and
private sector representatives; - export from Guyana to Barbados of beef; corn and soya; coconut
and coconut products; fruits and vegetables; poultry and poultry
products; and other products as may be determined; - export from Guyana to Barbados of shade houses;
- export from Barbados to Guyana of one thousand (1,000)
artificially inseminated black belly sheep in tranches; - establishment of a company to manage the black belly sheep
production and the creation of a youth programme which includes
differently- abled persons to work on a rotational basis on a fifty
(50) acre farm in Guyana; - lease by Guyana to Barbados of land at a concessional rate for
the purpose of joint partnership in animal husbandry and poultry
rearing (including poultry feed production) and for the production
of flowers, food crops inclusive of breadfruit, cassava, plantains,
pineapple, bananas, passion fruit, oranges and coconuts; - Guyana to provide Barbados with the tissue culture for the
planting of cherries, grapefruit, dragon fruit, breadfruit and
other food crops for a project to be undertaken by the Barbados
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (BADMC); - identification of an appropriate agricultural community in
Guyana to partner with Barbadian farmers in undertaking large scale
black belly sheep production in Guyana; - increase production in the poultry industry with a view to
reducing the food import bill and enhancing food security at the
Regional level; - establish a Food Terminal with operational plant and facilities
in both Barbados and Guyana for local use and for export to the
Region and further afield; - develop a trade hub in Barbados;
- produce in Guyana and export to Barbados, eucalyptus trees and
cane grass for use in a biomass plant; - promote adherence to CARICOM’s 25×2025 initiative
to increase food security and reduce extra-regional agri-food
imports; and - Barbados to participate in a meeting to be convened by Guyana
to analyze gaps in the CARICOM 25×2025 initiative; - Guyana to provide Barbados with an aquaculture plan that will
include processing and packaging of fish. A technical team to visit
Barbados to assist with the advancement of this project; - Barbados to become a centre for the processing of meat and fish
products for the Eastern Caribbean; - Barbados and Guyana agriculture ministries to establish a youth
exchange programme for aquaculture training; - Early commencement of work by officials of the two countries
for the standardization and harmonisation of protocols and
procedures on sanitary and phytosanitary issues to facilitate
timely approval and resolution of issues - early commencement of work on the development of a programme
and curricula for training and capacity building in
agriculture.”
The 43 Regular Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government concludes
[on Tuesday afternoon] in Paramaribo.
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