A number of people have asked me why the Chief Minister has headed to London this week. The answer is that he is attending the Eighth UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum which has been holding high-level talks on prosperity and security.
Good friends know the importance of communication – it brings us together, allows us to understand one another and resolves problems when they arise. It’s no different between countries. And it is certainly true for the special friendship between the UK and the Caribbean, where personal interaction, mutual understanding and shared values are at the heart of the relationship.
That is why Foreign Ministers from CARICOM countries and the Dominican Republic and Premiers of the UK Overseas Territories in the Caribbean have been meeting with the Foreign Secretary William Hague, FCO Minister for the Caribbean, Mark Simmonds, and other UK Government Ministers.
First held in Nassau in 1998, and held every two years, the UK-Caribbean Ministerial Forum provides a framework for discussion between the UK and Caribbean on a range of bilateral, regional and international issues. This year’s event focused on joint efforts to promote prosperity and encourage economic growth.
As a result of discussions at the Forum, UK and Caribbean Ministers agreed to follow-up activity including on energy security, the accelerated deployment of renewable energy sources, education for economic development and tackling serious and organised crime.
Both British and Caribbean governments are working with real vigour to boost economic growth, tackle the burden of debt and create jobs and opportunities for our citizens. The UK wants to build an even stronger partnership to promote prosperity.
A central theme of the Forum was energy security. High oil import costs and inefficient power generation and distribution are a challenge for many Caribbean economies. Identifying long term energy solutions – including natural gas and renewable technologies like wind, solar or geothermal power – is a CARICOM priority. UK companies are amongst the best in the world in this field so it is an obvious area where collaboration will deliver benefits all round.
Education and skills are also key priorities for both Britain and the Caribbean – we all recognise that our young people are our best resource. And so the Forum considered how we can provide the vocational education, technical know-how and life skills that they need for the world of work.
Of course, tourism remains vital to many Caribbean economies. The recent changes in the UK Air Passenger Duty which take effect from April 2015, will make it cheaper to fly to the Caribbean and will remove the anomaly of the tax being higher to travel to the Caribbean than to US holiday destinations. This has been a challenging issue in the UK’s relationship with the Caribbean – Caribbean governments and their tourism industries have lobbied hard for change. This change gives us another opportunity to build our partnership for prosperity by promoting tourism and business travel.
Prosperity also involves bringing down barriers to economic growth. Serious and organised crime is perhaps the biggest. Not only does it ruin lives, but it undermines economies, discourages investment and impacts on tourism. The Forum has built on our already excellent co-operation to stop organised crime networks, including through the apprehension and extradition of criminals and by seizing the proceeds of their crime.
The Foreign Secretary William Hague, whose participation underlined his personal commitment to the Caribbean, said after the meeting:
“The UK has a unique relationship with the Caribbean, based on friendship, mutual understanding and shared values. The Forum allowed us to celebrate that relationship but, more importantly, was an opportunity to look forward and agree concrete steps to promote prosperity and boost economic growth for both the Caribbean and the UK.”
Seen from our beautiful island, the issues that Ministers have been discussing in London are crucial areas on which we too, here in Anguilla, need to move forward. I believe that doing so in partnership with our Caribbean neighbours, drawing on the UK’s expertise where helpful, and being open to new ideas and ways of working, will make it more likely that we will together succeed in building a stronger Anguilla.
