Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Prime Minister of Grenada, H.E. Mr. Dickon Mitchell, the current CARICOM Chair, chaired the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit in Georgetown on 20 November 2024.
Prime Minister thanked President of Guyana, H.E. Irfaan Ali for graciously hosting the Summit. The first
India-CARICOM Summit was held in 2019 in New York. In addition to President of Guyana and Prime Minister of Grenada, the Summit was attended by :
President of Dominica, H.E. Sylvanie Burton & Prime Minister of Dominica, H.E. Roosevelt Skerrit;
President of Suriname, H.E. Chandrikapersad Santokhi;
Prime Minister of Trinidad & Tobago H.E. Dr. Keith Rowley;
Prime Minister of Barbados, H.E. Mia Amor Mottley;
Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, H.E. Mr. Gaston Browne;
Prime Minister of Grenada H.E. Dickon Mitchell;
Prime Minister & Minister of Finance of Bahamas, The Hon. Philip Edward Davis, K.C.
Prime Miniter of St. Lucia, H.E. Philip J Pierre
Prime Minister of St. Vincent, H.E. Ralph Everard Gonsalves
Prime Minister of Bahamas, H.E. Mr. Philip Edward Davis
Foreign Minister of Belize, H.E. Francis Fonseca
Foreign Minister of Jamaica, H.E. Kamina Smith
Foreign Minister of St. Kitts & Nevis H.E. Dr. Denzil Douglas
Expressing his deep solidarity with the people of CARICOM, Prime Minister conveyed his sympathies for the destruction caused by Hurricane Beryl in the region. Noting that the Global South countries were the most impacted by the challenges and conflicts of recent years, he reaffirmed India’s steadfast commitment to CARICOM countries as a reliable partner. Prime Minister emphasized that India’s development cooperation support was based on the needs and priorities of CARICOM countries.
To further build on India’s close development partnership and strong people to people ties with the region, Prime Minister offered assistance to CARICOM countries in seven key areas. These areas fit well with the CARICOM acronym and amplify the close bonds of friendship between India and the group.
They are:
- C: Capacity Building
● A: Agriculture and Food Security
● R: Renewable Energy and Climate Change
● I: Innovation, Technology and Trade
● C: Cricket and Culture
● O: Ocean Economy and Maritime Security
● M: Medicine and Healthcare
On capacity building, Prime Minister announced one thousand more ITEC slots for CARICOM countries over the next five years. In the area of food security, a critical challenge for these countries, he shared India’s experience with embracing technology in the agriculture domain – drones, digital farming, farm mechanization and soil testing. Given that Sargassum seaweed poses a major challenge for tourism in the Caribbean, Prime Minister noted that India would be happy to help convert the seaweed into fertilizer.
Speaking about transformative changes brought about by innovation, technology and trade in India, Prime Minister offered India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, cloud-based Digi locker and UPI models to countries in CARICOM to augment public service delivery.
CARICOM and India share close cultural and cricketing ties. Prime Minister announced training in India for 11 young women cricketers from each of the CARICOM countries. He also proposed organizing “Days of Indian Culture” in member countries next year to strengthen people-to-people ties.
To boost ocean economy and maritime security, Prime Minister noted that India was ready to work with CARICOM members on maritime domain mapping and hydrography in the Caribbean Sea.
Prime Minister highlighted India’s success with quality and affordable healthcare. He offered India’s model of making available generic medicine through the Jan Aushadhi Kendras [ generic medicine shops]. He also announced sending Yoga experts for promoting the e health and wellbeing of the people of CARICOM.
The CARICOM leaders welcomed Prime Minister’s Seven Point Plan for strengthening partnership between India and CARICOM. They appreciated India’s leadership of the Global South and its strong support for climate justice for the Small Island Developing States. They called for reform of global institutions and in this regard looked forward to working closely with India.
Prime Minister underscored that India stood firmly for giving voice to the concerns of the Global South. PM announced that the next India-CARICOM Summit would be hosted in India. He thanked President Irfaan Ali, Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell and CARICOM Secretariat for the successful conduct of the Summit.