CARICOM leaders grapple with regional challenges

Against the backdrop of global uncertainty and domestic hardship, Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados delivered a powerful address at the 49th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting, calling for regional unity, economic innovation, and reform to protect the Caribbean’s future.

Held July 6–8 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the summit convened regional leaders amid pressing concerns ranging from food insecurity and citizen safety to geopolitical instability and misinformation. Mottley reminded her fellow leaders that the Caribbean is facing its greatest collective challenge since independence, or perhaps even since the historic 1947 Montego Bay Conference that first envisioned regional integration.

“If ever there was a time for regional solidarity, it is absolutely now,” Mottley declared. She invoked the lyrics of Jamaican icon Jimmy Cliff: “You can get it if you really want, but you must try and try.”

Among the key issues discussed was the soaring cost of living across the region, which has strained working families. Mottley reaffirmed the value of CARICOM’s  “25 by 2025 agricultural initiative’, aimed at reducing food import bills by 25 per cent, but urged further investment and expansion of domestic food production. She also highlighted new trade ties with Brazil and the need for better intra-regional logistics, including regional cargo planes and a proposed inter-island ferry system.

In a historic first, CARICOM heads met with regional judiciaries to explore justice and security reforms. Mottley voiced support for a regional framework to combat rising crime and gun violence, much of it worsened by illegal arms flows from outside the region.

She also issued a firm call for the Caribbean Court of Justice to become the final appellate court across CARICOM states. “Our small vulnerable states must have a jurisprudence that reflects our realities,” she said.

On the global front, Mottley criticized the European Union for keeping countries like Barbados and Jamaica on financial grey lists despite their compliance. She also pressed the international community to act more urgently in support of Haiti, citing worsening violence and displacement there.

Finally, Mottley warned of new threats to Caribbean sovereignty, this time not from colonial powers, but from digital control and misinformation. She urged the creation of a CARICOM “blue tick” verification system to fight fake news, and argued that the region must invest in its own satellites and content creation to truly protect its voice.

“There is unfinished business,” she concluded, “but we must try and try, and we will succeed at last.

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