Castries: The Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip J Pierre, attended the opening ceremony of the CARICOM-Saudi summit. The summit commenced on Thursday, 16th of November, in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia.
Prime Minister Philip j Pierre was part of the delegation that included CARICOM heads of the government (HoGs). The CARICOM ( Caribbean Community and Common Market) is a group of countries in the Caribbean region. The CARICOM was established in the year 1973; it consists of 15 full-time members and five associate members.
It is to be specifically mentioned that the summit aimed to facilitate the bilateral opportunity for Saint Lucia and the CARICOM countries. This bilateral cooperation includes enhancing mutual relations with Saudi Arabia in the fields of investment, renewable energy, climate change sustainable development, etc.
It is worth mentioning that under the extraordinary leadership of Prime Minister Philip j Pieere, diplomatic relations between both countries have made a huge improvement. This diplomatic relationship drew a huge investment in Saint Lucia from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s investment supports many big projects in Saint Lucia.
Notably, the CARICOM-Saudi summit was co-chaired by the Crown and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, along with the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, namely, Roosevelt Skerrit.
At the summit, leaders reaffirmed their commitment to enhancing the mutual and friendly relationship between the Caribbean community and Saudi Arabia.
Leaders also resolve to increase their efforts for promoting peace, security, stability, and prosperity to achieve development goals.
The two sides also agreed to hold a joint consultation in future to explore the best possibility in areas of mutual interest like education, health, maritime cooperation, connectivity, logistics, food security, energy security, tourism sector, etc.
The summit also saw the support of Caribbean countries for Saudi Arabia’s bid to Host the 2030 expo in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, the education minister of Saint Lucia, Shawn Edward, will execute the function of the Prime Minister from November 14 to November 18, 2023.