The CELAC Summit in St Vincent and the Grenadines
AS WE await the outcome of the 46th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference, which started in Georgetown, Guyana, on Sunday, February 25, and of the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which commenced on Monday, February 26, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, I will look at the next major conference in which the region is involved in a principal role.
This is the 8th Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (CELAC) to be hosted by St Vincent and the Grenadines on Friday, March 1.
St Vincent and the Grenadines, through Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, has been the Pro Tempore President of CELAC since January 2023 when the country was unanimously selected at the 7th Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. St Vincent and the Grenadines is the first CARICOM country to hold this position.
For Jamaica, all these meetings are being attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Kamina Johnson Smith. Minister Johnson Smith remains the chair of CARICOM’s Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), a post which Jamaica assumed in May 2023 for one year. Minister Johnson Smith chaired the Nineteenth Special Meeting of the COFCOR on Sunday, February 25 at the CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana. This meeting was held, I assume, in preparation for the CARICOM Heads and for the CELAC Summit.
CELAC is a regional organisation which has 33 member states from Latin America and the Caribbean, including Cuba. It was established in 2011 to deepen integration in Latin America and the Caribbean spearheaded by Venezuela, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. It also aims to limit US influence in the region. CARICOM is a member of the Bureau (the toika). CELAC has not been without its challenges, with summits not being held from 2018-2020. Brazil, under President Jair Bolsonaro, withdrew from CELAC. Brazil returned with the election of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2023.
CELAC has joint meetings with regions and countries such as the European Union (EU) and China. The EU-CELAC Summit was held in Brussels in July 2023 after an eight-year hiatus. Prime Minister Gonsalves was a co-chair. It does not appear that a China-CELAC Summit has been held since 2018, but the Third Ministers’ Meeting of the China-CELAC Forum was held virtually in December 2021, and adopted a China-CELAC Joint Action Plan (2022-2024) to guide cooperation in areas, including politics, security, economy, and infrastructure.
The president of China did make a video address to the 7th CELAC Summit held in Argentina in January 2023. The aim remains to strengthen China’s relationship with CELAC and its member states. In January, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Brazil and Jamaica. China’s relationship with CELAC and its member states remains a concern to the USA and is closely monitored.
THE SUMMIT
The 8th CELAC Summit will be the largest international meeting ever hosted by St Vincent and the Grenadines. Over 400 heads of state and diplomats are expected to attend. The UN Secretary General António Guterres will also be there. Items to be considered include food security, peace, climate change, and healthcare.
Work on the conference declaration is in progress. This is a major event for Dr Ralph Gonsalves, age 77, who has been prime minister since 2001. For him, heading CELAC and being on the UN Security Council have raised the profile of St Vincent and the Grenadines, with a population of about 104,400, in the international community and in diplomacy.
It will be recalled that in December 2023, in his capacity of CELAC President Pro Tempore, PM Gonsalves brokered t he Argyle Airport meeting between the presidents of Guyana and Venezuela aimed at reducing the tension in the Venezuela/Guyana border controversy. The joint Declaration of Argyle for dialogue and peace between Guyana and Venezuela was adopted, in which the parties agreed not to use force and call for Guyana and Venezuela to meet in Brazil within the next three months. This should also be a matter for discussion at the CELAC Summit.
St Vincent and the Grenadines will hand over CELAC leadership to Honduras.
At present, PM Gonsalves, who studied at The University of the West Indies, Mon a, is indeed feeling that his country is little but tallawah.