Greater coordination, collaboration needed to address regional challenges

— Prime Minister Phillips tells leaders at ACS meeting in Guatemala

PRIME Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has advocated for enhanced regional coordination and collaboration to address political, financial, social, and environmental challenges, to secure the greater Caribbean Region’s sustained development.

He said this during the recently concluded Ninth Summit of Heads of State and/ or Government of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), in La Antigua, Guatemala.

During his address, the Prime Minister told regional leaders that systematic gaps in the economic, scientific, and technological spheres have emerged in recent years, highlighting global deficits and disparities, particularly for developing countries, demonstrating the need for a fundamental retooling of how the region interacts.

According to the Prime Minister, the summit’s theme asks for increased political dialogue among countries, as well as deeper collaboration and integration, which will benefit the Caribbean region’s overall sustainable development.

“This summit’s theme provides a timely opportunity for us as a Region, to deliberate on the strategies that would allow us to strive for the sustainable development of our countries and to overcome the challenges of economic recovery and resilience-building in this post-COVID era that have been further compounded by the destabilising effect of the war in Ukraine.

“We must also consider new mechanisms for partnership that can enhance our level of interaction through increased people-to-people engagement, increased technical cooperation, and knowledge sharing, not only amongst ourselves, but extra regionally as well,” he said.

The Prime Minister re -