The Barbados Defence Force: Vanguard of National Security and Strategic Partner In Regional Response
Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC) 2024: “Strengthening Bonds, Securing Futures: United for Regional Security.”
Barbados Defence Force Communications, Civil Military Affairs and Media publication Wednesday 11 December 2024
Officer Class One Austin Howell, recently attended the Caribbean Nations Security Conference (CANSEC) 2024 under the theme, “Strengthening Bonds, Securing Futures: United for Regional Security.
CANSEC underscores the commitment of Caribbean nations like Barbados and our international partners to continuously work together to build a secure, resilient, and peaceful region. This conference is uniquely positioned to provide a platform for discussing issues such as cyber security, climate change, and transnational crime. Thus, there is an innate need for action and cooperation among Caribbean nations to ensure regional stability and security. Barbados and the United States (US) have enjoyed friendly bilateral relations since Barbados gained independence in 1966. Since establishing this relationship, the Government of Barbados has received support from the US to promote economic development and improve the standard of living. This collaboration, mainly through the United States Southern Command (US SOUTHCOM), has been positive, with both countries working closely together to combat transnational crime and enhance hemispheric security.
Given this year’s theme, this conference is uniquely positioned to provide a platform for discussing issues such as cyber security, climate change, and transnational crime. Thus, there is a need for action and cooperation among Caribbean nations to ensure regional stability and security. In our region, we have witnessed that there is a critical role for the security forces in the design and development of frameworks for building resilience against the climate crisis, national security, critical infrastructure, and the cyber domain. Therefore, this will result in Caribbean nations effectively addressing common threats and ensuring a safer and more secure environment for their people.
Additionally, there is a need for greater appreciation of the critical need for robust regional cooperation and proactive strategies to ensure the safety and prosperity of future generations in the Caribbean. These are namely in the areas of regional collaboration, Youth Engagement, Strategic Partnerships, Adaptation and Innovation, and resilience building. By this token, the Barbados Defence Force is committed to securing the future of the Caribbean’s security framework. This can only be achieved through enhanced cooperation via joint training exercises, intelligence sharing, and coordinated responses to security threats.
Chief Of Staff Brigadier Carlos Lovell, in his remarks, noted that the presentations during the conduct of the conference highlighted programmes, initiatives and lessons learned were very enlightening and illustrated that there are resources out there that can be leveraged to create
The quote, “It takes a network to defeat a network,” underscores the value of this conference and the importance of the engagements taking place at CANSEC. It is clear that as SIDS and nations in our hemisphere, the level of vulnerability to natural hazards, bad actors in the cyber domain, and other threats is unusually high.
Notwithstanding this, CANSEC highlights that there are numerous resources available to assist the Region for its future and peace, by building multi-domain resilience to ensure the survival of the people of the region.