CARICOM secretary-general urges Caribbean leaders to advance integration amid global turmoil

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Carla Barnett, has told the region's leaders to treat the present climate of worldwide uncertainty as a opening for firm steps that renew faith in the integration agenda.

She spoke on Sunday at the opening session of the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, convened in Gros Islet, Saint Lucia.

"In the interest of the people we serve now, and for future generations, we should see the prevailing volatility and disruption not as a barrier to progress, but as an opportunity to reaffirm, through decisive action, our commitment to the ideals and aspirations of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas," she said. That treaty frames the Community and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Taking stock of recent work, Dr Barnett cited stronger CSME operations, including the launch of full free movement among four member states in October 2025. She also pointed to higher agricultural output under the 25 by 2025+5 programme, whose targets have now been carried forward to 2030.

The secretary-general further noted CARICOM's involvement in Haiti, growth in associate membership, and closer links with Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America.

She also commended the national football teams of Haiti and Curaçao for their "dynamic representation" at the FIFA World Cup 2026.

Dr Barnett recognised that serious obstacles remain. She recalled that when CARICOM was formed 53 years ago, a global fuel shock, Cold War rivalry and restricted markets had already shown why neighbours must pool efforts for shared benefit.

"Then, as now, external factors and influences put at risk the vision of regional integration. However, the expected benefits to our economies and wider societies at that time, as now, far outweigh the risks," she said.

Those pressures, she warned, require stepped-up work, including on outstanding CSME elements such as capital market institutions and payments and settlement systems.

"To move 'from resilience to renewal', as this meeting's theme urges, requires active recognition that as architects of this region's future, we should work, in unison, to shape our own destiny, on our own terms," Dr Barnett said.

She told heads of government that citizens are watching closely: "this sense of purpose is what our people expect, require and deserve, if they are to see a positive difference in their lives from the work that we do here."