CARICOM and Mexico agree to strengthen ties in disaster risk management; other critical areas

CARICOM Media Release

CARICOM and Mexico, which both recently suffered devastating natural disasters, have agreed to strengthen cooperation in disaster risk management.

The agreement forms part of a Joint Declaration issued at the end of the Fourth CARICOM-Mexico Summit held in Belize on Wednesday 25 October 2017 under the joint chairmanship of CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell of Grenada and the President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto.    

The Mexico-CARICOM Strategy for Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management will have three main lines of work. It will strengthen initiatives already in place; promote cooperation in training and the exchange of best practices in a range of relevant areas such as early warning, awareness raising, emergency response, rehabilitation of physical and telecommunications infrastructure, risk transfer and public private partnerships for disaster response and reconstruction; and it will promote joint action in multilateral fora while also mobilising international support to strengthen the Caribbean’s institutional capabilities for disaster risk management. The international support will cover economic  issues such as use of GDP per capita to graduate CARICOM Member States from concessionary financing, and preventing de-risking measures.

During September, Mexico suffered two major earthquakes which killed hundreds and caused widespread damage, while several CARICOM countries took direct hits from two category five hurricanes, Irma and Maria, which caused a number of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.  CARICOM, with support from the United Nations, is organizing a Donor Conference to mobilise international support for the post hurricane recovery effort. It will be held at UN Headquarters in New York on the 21 November, and CARICOM and Mexico have agreed to collaborate to ensure its success.

Wednesday’s summit approved the seventh Mexico-CARICOM Technical Cooperation Programme (2017-2019) which establishes a new paradigm for cooperation. In addition to disaster risk management and recovery, the programme will also cover trade and investment, health, Statistics and ICT, in line with the CARICOM Strategic Plan 2015-2019 and the global development agenda.

The meeting also welcomed the offer by Mexico of 150 scholarships for training Caribbean teachers of Spanish as a second language which should further strengthen communication between the two sides.

Read joint declaration below.

Joint Declaration - IV CARICOM-MEXICO Summit (25.10.17).pdf

PDF - 145 Kb

Kendol Morgan

Programme Manager, Communications, CARICOM Secretariat

OECS Communications Unit

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Get updates in your mailbox

By clicking "Subscribe" I confirm I have read and agree to the Privacy Policy.

About The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

Back to www.oecs.int

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

Contact

Morne Fortune Castries Saint Lucia

+1758-455-6377

media@oecs.int

www.oecs.int