Historic moment for Caricom nations: Barbados PM Mottley on meeting PM Modi

Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley on Wednesday said that visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked a "historic moment" for the Caricom countries and that they were honoured to have the summit between India and the group of island countries of the Caribbean Sea.

"I think we are all happy that we can have this opportunity to meet with PM Narendra Modi. It is a historic moment for most of us in CARICOM to be able to meet with and have the CARICOM-India at the level of Heads of Government...," the Babados PM said.

She said the visit at the level of heads of the Government highlights the strength of the relationship between the countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi upon his arrival in Guyana today received a warm welcome from the President of Guyana Irfaan Ali as well as the Prime Ministers of Grenada Dickon Mitchell, and of Barbados Mia Mottley, along with four ministers from Guyana at a hotel in Georgetown.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is a grouping of 21 countries, 15 member states and six associate members.

It is home to approximately sixteen million citizens, 60 per cent of whom are under the age of 30, and from the main ethnic groups of Indigenous Peoples, Africans, Indians, Europeans, Chinese, Portuguese and Javanese, as stated by its official website.

CARICOM came into being in 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The Treaty was later revised in 2002 to allow for the eventual establishment of a single market and a single economy.

As per the official website, CARICOM rests on four main pillars namely, economic integration, foreign policy coordination, human and social development and security.

The Barbados PM, while speaking to ANI observed that the last time the leaders met was on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. She said that the interactions between them, "speaks of the strength of the relationship between the two regions".

India and Barbados enjoy close and cordial relations and interact actively in the UN, Commonwealth and NAM and other international fora.

A statement by the External Affairs Ministry highlighted that Barbados has been supporting India's candidature on various multilateral platforms including elections of different bodies under UN.

Approximately 3000 people of Indian origin have settled in Barbados and most of them have since acquired local nationality

Significantly, PM Modi has become the the first Indian PM to visit the Caribbean country in 56 years.

During his visit, PM Modi will address a special sitting of Guyana's parliament. He will also join leaders from the Caribbean partner countries for the 2nd India-CARICOM Summit.

In a press briefing ahead of the PM's visit to Guyana, the Ministry of External Affairs noted that the Prime Minister's visit comes at the invitation of Guyanese President Mohammad Irfaan Ali.(Business Standard)