Caribbean-EU leaders to carry assembly on Monday

CARICOM leaders are set to interact in discussions with their European counterparts in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, as confirmed by senior EU officers on Friday.

Through the two-day EU and Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit, varied issues related to the Caribbean area can be deliberated upon, as per the officers briefing reporters. 

They emphasised the importance of continued collaboration with the area, highlighting the inclusion of the Bridgetown initiative on the EU-CELAC summit’s agenda. 

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Spearheaded by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, the Bridgetown Initiative attracts comparisons to the Marshall Plan of 1948, which supplied substantial international assist—exceeding US$13 billion—to help Western Europe’s post-World Struggle II restoration.

The Bridgetown Initiative encompasses three pivotal steps outlined by Barbados. 

Firstly, it goals to switch sure mortgage and reimbursement phrases, stopping growing nations from falling right into a debt disaster when compelled to borrow extensively as a consequence of recurring disasters akin to floods, droughts, and storms. Secondly, Barbados is urging improvement banks to increase an extra one trillion US {dollars} in loans to growing international locations, primarily centered on local weather change resilience. This contains discounted lending particularly directed in direction of enhancing local weather resilience in international locations inclined to climate-related adversities.

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The third step of the Bridgetown Initiative entails establishing a novel mechanism, supported by the personal sector, to fund local weather mitigation and reconstruction efforts following local weather disasters.

Co-chaired by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and the present pro-tempore Presidency of CELAC, the two-day EU-CELAC summit marks the primary such gathering in eight years.

The officers additionally acknowledged the probability of reparation for slavery being included as an agenda merchandise through the summit.