US partnering with Caribbean in defence of ‘shared values’
The US says it is working with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments to protect their “shared values” and make the region more resilient in all areas, including the economy, security, and democracy, “so that the people of the Caribbean and the US can enjoy prosperity, health, and freedom.”
The US Department of State made the statement at the same time that John Kerry, the country’s Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is leading a four-person delegation to the Bahamas to meet with CARICOM leaders at the start of their three-day summit, which starts later on Wednesday.
The State Department said that Kerry “will keep working to improve international cooperation among countries that are especially vulnerable to the climate crisis” and that the U.S. is giving the Caribbean $28 million to help meet urgent food security needs.
It said that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had sent five technical experts to the Caribbean region. These experts “advise on efficient use of fertilizer, biofertiliser production, nutrient management, crop insurance feasibility, and are working to develop an operational logistics and supply chain model to make intraregional trade easier.”
The State Department said that the US Environmental Protection Agency held three training sessions in the area to help build people’s skills and improve pesticide management and food security.
In collaboration with CARICOM, USAID is planning an integrated food security activity that will get more farmers to use climate-smart technologies, improve smallholder fruit and vegetable production, build the capacity of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in agro-processing, improve extensionists’ technical knowledge, and deal with sanitary and phytosanitary measures that make it hard for open trade to happen.
“The United States, CARICOM, and the Dominican Republic came up with short-, medium-, and long-term plans for improving food security in the region,” the statement said.
Under the US-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030), Washington said it is working with the Caribbean to create “wide-ranging, long-term solutions for energy security and climate resilience.”
It said that the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) gave Trinidad and Tobago a specific license last month “to allow them to develop the Dragon gas field, which is in Venezuelan maritime territory, paving the way for LNG from this eventual project to benefit the whole Caribbean.”
The Biden administration congratulated the 150 countries, including CARICOM member countries, that have signed the Global Methane Pledge. It also said, “We are committed to working together to reach our goal of reducing global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. This is the single most effective way to limit warming in the short term.”
“We look forward to supporting national country planning and related methane reduction policy and project efforts, especially in the waste sector,” the statement said. It also said that last month, USAID announced its plans to work with the Barbados government to provide funding to help set up the Blue Green Investment Corporation, a regional financing vehicle for projects that will help with climate change mitigation and adaptation, such as building more resilient communities.
Also, the department said that the U.S. “supported flexibility” in how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) divided up the Resilience Sustainability Trust. Under this plan, the IMF gave Barbados a lot of money to invest in making its infrastructure more resistant to climate change.
