A meeting between Caricom foreign ministers and their Japan counterpart, Fumio Kishida, ended yesterday with an agreement to “strengthen the bond between Japan and Caricom.” A communique issued at the end of the meeting at the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tokyo also said they agreed to co-operate in the areas of sustainable development, including overcoming vulnerabilities particular to Small Island Developing States (Sids). The ministers also agreed to deepen and expand bonds founded on exchanges and friendship and “co-operation in addressing challenges confronting the international community.”
According to the communique, the Caricom ministers expressed their “concern over the issue of the issue of graduation from concessionary funding based on the narrow measurement of GDP per capita and underlined the importance of expanding this measurement to include a vulnerability index.” Kishida spoke of his government’s intention to “promote assistance for Japanese language education at the UWI.”
The meeting also agreed to use sports to foster friendship and mutual understanding. Caricom ministers welcomed Japan’s interest in investing in projects to supply clean energy and ICT. The meeting stressed the need for reform of the United Nation’s Security Council “to reflect the geographical realities of the 21st century.” The meeting also reaffirmed “the importance of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction in development planning and international co-operation initiatives.” The ministers agreed to continue close co-operation on the climate change issue.
Acting Permanent Secretary Frances Seignoret represented Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran at the meeting.