Category: CANA News

Taiwan’s Ambassador to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Fiona Huei-Chun Fan, says her country, which is is celebrating its 1th National Day on Friday, ‘will neither provoke nor yield’ to China.

China regards the Taipei as a renegade province and has vowed to bring it under the ‘One China’ policy.

But speaking at a ceremony to mark the celebration, Fan said that the East Asian island which lies between the East and South China Seas, stands at the frontline of defending democracy in the face of ‘constant challenges from Communist China – through military intimidation, economic coercion, diplomatic suppression, and disinformation campaigns.

‘Yet, Taiwan remains calm, determined, and resolute. We will neither provoke nor yield,’ she said, adding Taiwan will continue to defend its sovereignty, safeguard its democracy, and preserve peace and stability in the region.

‘Neither Taiwan nor the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is subordinate to the other. Taiwan’s future will always be determined by the will of its 23 million people,’ the Taiwanese diplomat said.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is among a handful of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries that enjoy diplomat relationship with Taiwan. The others being St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Belize and Haiti.

‘We will keep working with like-minded democracies, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, to ensure that the Indo-Pacific remains a region of peace, freedom, and shared prosperity,’ Fan said.

She said that since Taiwan and St. Vincent and the Grenadines established diplomatic relations in 1981, the two countries have enjoyed a partnership built on mutual respect, shared prosperity, and unwavering faith in democratic values.

‘We are especially grateful to Prime Minister (Ralph) Gonsalves for his impassioned call at the United Nations General Debate this past September , a powerful affirmation of Taiwan’s rightful place in the international community,’ Fan said.

She also thanked Kingstown for its continued support in Taipei’s campaign to join the UN’s health, climate change, civil aviation, and crime prevention agencies.

Fan noted that Taiwan celebrates its 114th National Day just days before St. Vincent and the Grenadines marks its 46th anniversary of independence, saying ‘we not only celebrate our shared history, we also celebrate our shared vision for the future’.

She said her country is the 22nd largest economy in the world, ranks sixth in global competitiveness and fourth in economic freedom.

‘Our exports have exceeded US$475 billion, and our GDP (gross domestic product)per capita now stands at US$34,000, a reflection of the hard work and resilience of our people.

‘We are also proud to say that Taiwan is also a global digital partner, with our brand ASUS and ACER, etc. producing 70 per cent of laptops worldwide. Taiwan produces 90 per cent of the world’s AI (artificial intelligence) servers, placing us at the very heart of the global artificial intelligence supply chain.’

Fan said many of the world’s leading tech companies, including Google, Microsoft, and Micron, have established research and development centres in Taiwan, reaffirming Taiwan’s role as a trusted and indispensable partner in the digital age.

‘But Taiwan’s technology is not meant for Taiwan alone. Our progress is meaningful only when it helps our allies grow with us, and nowhere is that more evident than here, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.’

She noted that the two countries have worked together to install 320 CCTV cameras across St. Vincent and the Grenadines, supported by an AI-powered Police Security Analytics Centre.

In agriculture, the Young Farmers Training Programme, a three-year initiative, is designed to modernise local farming and strengthen climate resilience.

Through the use of IoT-based environmental controls and smart plant factories, 75 young Vincentian farmers will receive training in crop production, post-harvest handling, and agribusiness management.

And the top graduates will receive entrepreneurship coaching and seed funding to launch their own ventures.

Taiwan’s livestock project has doubled pig production and quality through the introduction of purebred animals, artificial insemination, and improved nutrition.

‘And of course, one of the proudest achievements in our bilateral cooperation is the construction of the Arnos Vale Acute Care Hospital.’

Taiwan has lent St. Vincent and the Grenadines US$125 million, from which the government has awarded a US$78 million contract to a Taiwanese firm for the construction of the hospital.

‘This hospital stands as a symbol of our friendship and our shared belief that good health is the foundation of national development.

‘Out of the 12 buildings planned, two buildings for administration and pharmacy have already begun to rise, and another two for diagnostics and general ward will be structurally completed by the end of this year,’ she said, adding that the project is slated to be completed over the next two years.

Jamaica says it has reached an agreement with Barbados to implement a joint youth exchange programme aimed at strengthening cooperation in livestock and crop production.

The initiative, to be undertaken through the Regional Youth in Agriculture Strategy, is expected to begin by the fourth quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year and will expose young people to modern technologies and climate-smart practices, supporting the region’s efforts to build a skilled network of young farmers.

‘Barbados’ efforts to scale regional livestock production align closely with Jamaica’s own vision for growth,’ said Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green, adding ‘we are moving decisively to strengthen our cattle and small ruminant base, improve breeding stock and protect our genetic lines’.

Earlier this year, Green announced a new era of research and innovation aimed at improving genetic resources, building resilience against disease and modernising breeding and pasture systems. Already, national breeding programmes are integrating improved genetics, embryo transfer and artificial insemination technologies to enhance herd quality and output, according to the ministry.

In a statement, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining said these advancements complement Barbados’s leadership with the Black Belly Sheep, a breed native to the island and recognised across the Caribbean for its adaptability, meat quality and economic potential.

‘I am happy that, together with Minister (Indar) Weir from Barbados, we are playing a role in advancing our region’s collective drive toward greater self-sufficiency and food security,’ Green added.

The statement said that his comments followed bilateral talks at the recently held 19th Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA 2025) held in St Kitts and Nevis where discussions focused on strengthening the region’s small ruminant industry, including the expansion of the Black Belly Sheep programme being driven by Barbados.

Jamaica will host the 20th session of the Caribbean Week of Agriculture next year and Green said the staging ‘will provide a tremendous opportunity for us to translate some of the commitments made this year into real actions and to follow up by monitoring how far we have come over the next year’.

The Trinidad-based Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Curaçao company describing it as a ‘giant step towards fully unlocking the region’s data potential’.

The CTU said that the agreement was formalised recently with DataAxis, a technology company aimed at accelerating data-driven governance, regulatory harmonisation, and digital services across the Caribbean.

The three-year agreement was signed at the recently held CTU’s Annual ICT Week 2025 in Jamaica.

‘By partnering with DataAxis, we are committing to not just policy and intention, but tangible, tech-enabled progress. We will see real changes in how data is used, shared, and leveraged for the public good across the Caribbean,’ said CTU Secretary General, Rodney Taylor.

The CTU said that the collaboration is intended to improve visibility and enhance usage in the areas of data management and monetisation, deliver regulatory and infrastructure support, streamline governance and legal frameworks and spearhead pilot projects and capacity-building initiatives in selected member states.

It said that these efforts are aimed at delivering improvements in areas such as land registry systems, automating licensing and permit processes and harmonising registry standards and improving cross-border cooperation.

DataAxis’s chief executive officer, Guershon Nahr said his company is pleased to partner with the regional body in such an ambitious and critical venture.

‘DataAxis is driven and proud to share its expertise with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union in a strategic alliance as together we seek to better prepare this region for the technological innovations and dynamic, industry-sweeping change that will continue to characterise the ICT industry well into the foreseeable future,’ Nahr said.

The CTU said that the MoU is also expected to facilitate more robust cross-border cooperation and service delivery monitoring, along with providing support for CTU’s agenda of regulatory harmonising, particularly in spectrum management, service delivery monitoring, and ICT infrastructure resilience.

Additionally, joint training initiatives will build capacity for local institutions in data governance, API management, and monetisation strategies, it added.

St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has praised Dominica’s economic recovery after the island encountered numerous challenges over the years.

Delivering a lecture on Thursday night to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of former prime minister, Roosevelt Douglas, Prime Minister Gonsalves, the longest serving had of government within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said that the island’s economic recovery should not be taken lightly.

He said that as a result of the challenges faced by the island over the years, many of its economic leaders ‘had collapsed.

‘Bananas collapsed, Hurricane David, Hurricane Allen, Hurricane Maria, the global economic crisis.COVID and the occasional droughts, all the vagaries of climate change, the harshness of the external world and through it all we have survived and thriving.

‘We have much to be thankful for, ‘ said, praising the work of the current prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit, even as he urged Dominicans ‘not to get carried away by vanity.

‘To be sure, we all have complaints,’ he said, noting many in the Labour parties across the region ‘want to bring the temple down.but if they remember the story with Sampson properly, Sampson brought the temple down on everybody including his own.

‘And when you divide your self and create confusion.and bring the temple down on everybody own including your own, the morning after you will say oh God what I do. Weeping an gnashing of teeth,’ he said, urging Dominicans to look at the 2025 Human Index Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which placed Dominica in the highest category of its four categories, ‘very high human development’.

Gonsalves said that Douglas, who served as prime minister from February 2000 until his death in office eight months later, had despite his ‘good basic colonial education’ had rebelled about the limitations of that colonial education.

‘He loved people, not in the general, but in the particular,’ Gonsalves, said, adding that ‘anybody could say they love people.

‘The critical thing is to love in the particular because that love in the particular which has joys and pain.and in his case he loved people in a particular manner,’ Gonsalves said, noting hat his electoral defeat in 1990′ when they jerrymandered’ the constituency ‘he nevertheless would have learnt lessons from that.

‘All politics is local and you have to pay attention to what is happening on the ground and he learned also the pain of defeat. Unless you have victory and defeat, you don’t know what this thing is about’.

Douglas is also best remembered for the role he played in the 1969 Sir George Williams University situation when black students began to protest racism at the Canadian institution.

He, along with future Canadian legislator, Anne Cools, and others led an anti-racism sit-in at the St. George Williams University, Montreal, which resulted in the peaceful occupation of the computer centre as negotiations took place between the administration and the student leadership. However, once an agreement was reached, the riot police infiltrated the occupation, resulting in mayhem and destruction of the computer centre.

Douglas was identified as the ring leader and charged with obstructing the use of public property. He served 18 months in prison before being declared a national security risk by then Solicitor General Warren Almond setting the stage for his deportation in hand cuffs and leg irons, vowing that he would only return as ‘Prime Minister of my own country’.

Gonsalves said he has joined with the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) calling on Canada to exonerate Douglas, noting that he had served a jail term ‘not for what they charged him.

‘He and I spoke about this a long time and in fact there were reports which showed and he told me about that agent provocateurs, who helped to mash up the computers.and when Rosie was in jail he did not waste time in jail.

‘He taught prisoners.educated them. He wrote a report on prison conditions and recommended reforms in the Canadian prison system,’ Gonsalves said, adding that when he was released from prison, Douglas sought to unite the people of the Caribbean, Africa and other countries.

‘The authorities said that he was a security risk and hey sent him back in chains.and even in the most humiliating thing Rosie would find humour..,’ Gonsalves added.

The Belize-based Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) says a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will guide and formalise the cooperation between them.

‘For many years, the CRFM and the OECS have collaborated on initiatives to support their respective member states. The informal relationship has worked well for both the CRFM and the OECS, but there is a need to establish official relations,’ said CRFM executive director, Dr. Marc Williams.

‘As a result, the signing of the MoU will initiate a collaboration that will guide and formalize cooperation between the CRFM and the OECS for the execution of related and relevant activities in specific areas of fisheries-related matters.’ said Williams, who signed the accord with OECS Director General, Dr. Didacus Jules.

Jules said that the MoU, which spans 2025 to 2028, ‘represents bringing the collaboration between the OECS and the CRFM to a whole new level.

‘It covers governance and management of fisheries, providing support for further integration in the Blue Economy sector. building resilience, harmonization of safety at sea programmes, insurance products for fishers, making available information and guidance to support fisheries research, and joint research initiatives, economic development for fisherfolk and communities. focusing on empowerment of youth and women in the fisheries value chain, agriculture and fisheries linkages, trade markets and business development,’ he added.

Williams described the MoU as a pivotal instrument for solidifying and strengthening the established relationship between the CRFM and the OECS, eight of whose members Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadine, are also members of the CRFM.

Meanwhile, the CRFM said that it has also signed an MoU with the University of the West Indies (UWI) which will be executed through the UWI Five Island Campus in Antigua and Barbuda.

Williams, who signed the agreement with Professor Carl Justin Robinson, the Campus Principal, said that thefive-year MoU will lead to the establishment of a mutually beneficial relationship for educational and academic collaboration in the areas of mutual interest.

These include the blue economy development, marine spatial planning, climate change adaptation, ecosystems resilience, and resource mobilisation.

He noted that the Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE), a collaboration between the Antigua and Barbuda government, the UWI, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities, will support the CRFM in its efforts to advance blue economy development in the Caribbean, in collaboration with regional and global partners.

The center of Tropical Storm Jerry is expected to pass north of the Leeward Islands this morning and then move away from the islands later on Friday, with residents in those islands being warned to be prepared for flash flooding.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the 10th named storm of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season is expected to bring heavy rainfall across the region on Friday and has maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour (mph).

The storm is about 80 miles, north north east of the Northern Leeward Islands and a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe and the adjacent islands. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Saba and St. Eustatius.

The government of Antigua and Barbuda has discontinued the Tropical Storm Warning for Barbuda and Anguilla, as well as the Tropical Storm Watch for Antigua, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat.

The NHC said that the Jerry is moving toward the northwest near 17 mph and a turn towards the north is expected tonight into Saturday, followed by a northward to north-northeastward motion through the rest of the weekend.

‘On the forecast track, the center of Jerry will continue passing to the north of the Leeward Islands this morning, then move away from the islands later today. Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph with higher gusts. Little change in strength is expected today, but slow strengthening is possible over the weekend,’ the NHC said.

It said that through Friday, four to six inches of rain are expected across the island of Barbuda. Elsewhere across the Leeward and Virgin Islands, two to four 4 inches of rain are expected.

‘This rainfall brings a risk of flash flooding, especially in urban areas and in steep terrain. For portions of Puerto Rico, moisture associated with Jerry combined with local orographic effects may result in up to two to four inches of rain, with isolated amounts of six inches possible.’

Swells generated by Jerry are affecting the Leeward Islands, Windward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico, and are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.

These swells are expected to spread toward the rest of the Greater Antilles today and tonight,’ the NHC added.

Nationals of several Caribbean Community (CARICCOM) countries that enjoy visa-free entry into the Schengen area for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, may soon have that situation revoked.

The European Parliament has passed new rules that make it easier for the European Union (EU) to revoke visa-free access for countries whose citizens pose security threats or fail to respect human rights.

The legislation, negotiated between Parliament and Council representatives, passed with 518 votes in favour, 96 against, and 24 abstentions. It still requires formal adoption by the Council and will come into force 20 days after publication in the EU Official Journal.

Under the revised rules, the European Commission can launch the visa suspension process either on its own initiative or following a request from an EU member state. The process begins with a temporary halt to visa-free travel and can become permanent if the concerns are not resolved.

The reform is designed to ensure that short-term entry privileges remain conditional on security, human rights compliance, and legal obligations, giving the EU a precise tool to respond to evolving risks.

The legislation applies to 61 countries that currently allow short-term stays in the Schengen Zone of up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa.

Among the Caribbean countries likely to be affected are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as British Overseas Territories.

Under the updated framework, the European Commission can begin by temporarily suspending visa-free entry for a country if there are concerns about safety, serious criminal activity, overstays, or a spike in rejected asylum applications.

If these issues remain unresolved, the suspension can be made permanent, but so far, the only instance of revoked visa-free travel has involved Vanuatu.

The reforms introduce several new triggers for removing visa privileges. These include hybrid threats, such as the manipulation of migration by a foreign state, including investor citizenship programmes, violations of international law or UN mandates, and failure to comply with international court decisions.

Existing factors, like general security risks or lack of cooperation on returning migrants, remain part of the criteria.

The EU parliament has set clear thresholds. They said a a 30 per cent rise in serious crimes or overstaying incidents and a 20 per cent low approval rate for asylum applications will prompt action.

In exceptional circumstances, the Commission can adjust these limits based on well-supported evidence. The rules also allow the EU to target government officials responsible for human rights violations or other breaches, enabling selective suspension rather than punishing entire populations.

Business executives from the United Kingdom (UK) are ending a three-day trade mission visit to Jamaica, expressing optimism about the opportunity to fostering trade expansion and commercial ties.

The mission sought to deepen UK-Jamaica commercial collaboration and to identify new opportunities that can be leveraged for the advancement of both countries.

Regional Director at Northern Consortium United Kingdom (NCUK), which develops tertiary education programmes across the world, Adam Connor, said he is hoping that Jamaica becomes the 42nd country to forge a partnership with the company.

‘We’re currently in 41 countries with 130 partners who teach our programmes. The programmes give guaranteed access into our partner universities, which includes world-leading universities like University of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Queen Mary, Australian universities, New Zealand [and] Canada.’

Connor said NCUK is looking to partner with Jamaican institutions that want to collaborate with UK universities or want to bring UK education opportunities into Jamaica, adding that ‘the objective is really to give more access to higher education to students’.

Regional Trade Director for the UK’s Department of Business and Trade for the Commonwealth Caribbean, D’Jamila Ward, said now is the time to do business in Jamaica, noting that British companies look at three things when they seek to do business in external markets – vision, stability and predictability, noting that Jamaica offers all three.

‘National priorities in infrastructure, renewable energy, logistics and digital transformation align perfectly with the UK’s strength and our modern trade and industrial strategies as we place growth at the heart of our foreign policy,’ Ward added.

Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Aubyn Hill, is encouraging London to consider implementing a special visa arrangement to facilitate the movement of Jamaican and other Caribbean service professionals within that country.

He believes that this special arrangement could be facilitated under the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which governs Caribbean trade and investment relations with the UK.

‘To make the market access opportunities under the EPA more effective, better arrangements will be needed to facilitate the movement of Jamaican and other CARIFORUM service professionals within the UK,’ Hill said of the EPA that extends beyond traditional trade arrangements to encompass key areas such as competition policy, intellectual property rights, regional integration, and cultural cooperation.

He said that while the Jamaica government remains focused on advancing the manufacturing and export sectors and strengthening the productive capacity of the private sector, it must be acknowledged that services continue to represent the dominant component of Jamaica’s economy, contributing significantly to the island’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Hill is urging Britain to ‘introduce a special visa arrangement which will be especially beneficial to representatives of our creative industry, particularly our musicians, models, theatre professionals and other entertainers who desire to ply their trade in the UK’.

He said Jamaica would continue to champion deeper dialogue on the matter, recognising that sustained engagement is essential to the effective implementation of the EPA and that Jamaica stands ready to welcome British citizens who wish to work remotely from the island.

Hill said that National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang is is looking at this to make sure Jamaica becomes an even more attractive place for people to come and reside and work for big companies elsewhere.

Opposition legislators Friday staged a walk out of from the Parliament accusing the Speaker Jagdeo Singh of having a ‘biased and prejudicial behaviour’ towards them.

The 13 members of the main opposition People’s National Movement (ONM), including Opposition Leader, Pennelope Beckles, said that they ‘were left with no choice but to leave today’s sitting,” adding ‘the pattern of unfair treatment and rulings has continued unchecked and unaddressed.

‘It is now beyond question to unbiased observers that the current Speaker of the House has failed in his duty to act impartially and to uphold the Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament.

‘Since assuming the Chair, the Speaker has consistently rejected the majority of Urgent Questions and Prime Minister’s Questions filed by the Opposition. His refusal to maintain established precedent on Supplemental Questions is a direct challenge to accountability and transparency in the conduct of the people’s business.,’ the opposition legislators said.

They said that another constant feature of recent parliamentary sittings has been the ‘uneven and biased application of the Standing Orders.

‘The Speaker routinely overlooks inappropriate behaviour from Members of the Government, including disorderly conduct and offensive remarks, yet is quick to silence Members on the Opposition Bench.’

They said that Friday’s sitting ‘was no exception’ and that when they attempted to make contributions, ‘government members ‘were permitted to shout, disrupt and engage in unparliamentary behaviour without restraint or reprimand, while Opposition Members are met with repeated interruption and censure from the Chair’.

The opposition legisltors said that they have been constitutionally elected to serve the people of Trinidad and Tobago, ‘representing almost 400,000 citizens’ and that ‘any attempt to silence their voices, curtail their contributions, or restrict their right to question the Government will not be tolerated’.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Dr. Carla Barnett says CARICOM must continue to demand a scaled-up and simplified Loss and Damage Fund, with direct access modalities for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) when the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) gets underway in Brazil next month.

The Loss and Damage Fund is a climate finance mechanism designed to provide financial support to vulnerable developing countries that are disproportionately affected by the adverse effects of climate change. Established at COP27 in 2022, it addresses both economic and non-economic losses resulting from extreme weather events and slow-onset climate impacts, such as rising sea levels and droughts.

Funding helps with immediate relief, recovery, and rebuilding after climate disasters, including infrastructure repair, relocation support, and addressing non-economic losses like cultural heritage loss.

Barnett told a meeting of CARICOM ministers with responsibility for the environment that the region must also seek a robust new collective quantified goal that reflects the real cost of climate action and includes sub-targets for adaptation and resilience, and that is implementable.

In addition, she wants CARICOM to move towards the reform of multilateral climate finance architecture to ensure equity, transparency, and responsiveness to SIDS’ needs, and the recognition of the SIDS unique vulnerabilities in climate finance eligibility criteria.

Barnett told the second CARICOM meeting in preparation for COP 30, the region must continue to speak with one voice and urge world leaders to act with urgency.

‘We must always remind the world, lest they forget, CARICOM stands at the frontline of the climate crisis, contributing less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet bearing a disproportionate share of its impact.

‘Rising sea levels threaten our coastlines and cultural heritage. Intensifying hurricanes, droughts ocean acidification and saltwater intrusion are not abstract threats. They are lived realities for our farmers, fisherfolk, tourism workers, and families across every member state and coastal community.’

She said that the COP 30 meeting will be the first to take stock of the Global Goal on Adaptation, a key outcome of COP 28.

‘It will assess progress on the Loss and Damage Fund and shape the New Collective Quantified Goal on climate finance, which must replace the outdated annual US$100 billion pledge, which was never achieved. ‘

Barnett said that climate finance remains the cornerstone of the region’s advocacy and while global pledges have increased, contributions lag well behind, and disbursements remain slow, fragmented, and inaccessible.

‘Small Island Developing States continue to face complex bureaucratic hurdles, eligibility constraints, and inadequate support for adaptation and loss and damage,’ she said, adding ‘we must also continue to champion innovative financing mechanisms, including debt-for-climate swaps, blue bonds, parametric insurance, and blended finance models that can unlock resources for resilience and sustainable development.’

Barnett said that from the coral reefs of the Bahamas and Belize to the rainforests of Suriname and Guyana, the Caribbean region is home to extraordinary biodiversity.

‘These ecosystems are climate assets. Mangroves buffer storm surges, forests sequester carbon, and healthy reefs support livelihoods. Yet, biodiversity loss is accelerating, driven by climate change, pollution, and unsustainable land use.

‘At COP 30, we will advocate for greater integration of biodiversity and climate agendas. We must also press for scaled-up support for ecosystem-based adaptation and community-led conservation.

‘As always, our positions must be informed by robust technical analysis, grounded in regional realities, as we leverage our diplomatic networks, our scientific institutions, and our civil society partners to amplify our voice.’

Barnett said that COP 30 demands the highest level of strategic political coordination, moral clarity and regional solidarity.

‘Our negotiators have been preparing and must be supported and positioned to influence outcomes. At the CARICOM Pavillion, we will tell our story, not just of vulnerability, but of vision. We must showcase our responses to climate change, our leadership on issues critical to us, and our demands in ways that resonate with global audiences.’

But she acknowledged that COP 30 is not an endpoint, but another a brief stop on a long and difficult journey, 30 years so far.

‘Our climate agenda will continue to be embedded in our development strategies, our budgetary frameworks, and our regional integration efforts. But we must never forget that as long as the developed world does not meaningfully accept their responsibility for generating the largest portion of the green house gases that are the source of global warming that is causing climate change; our fight to survive will continue.

‘Yes, we want to be able to effectively implement mitigation and adaptation strategies and need affordable finance, access to technologies, and meaningful support from our cooperation partners to be able to do this.

‘But we must never forget to speak our truth, we do not cause climate change. We bear the burden of climate change. And that burden will continue to grow as long as global emissions continue to grow,’ the CARICOM Secretary General added.