Grenadian PM Dickon Mitchell to address 48th CARICOM Meeting in Barbados

Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell will address the opening ceremony of the 48th CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Heads of Government Meeting in Bridgetown, Barbados on Wednesday, February 19, 2025. He served as the community’s chair between July 1 and December 31, 2024, and is responsible for Science and Technology (including Information and Communications) in the Quasi Cabinet. 

Besides PM Mitchell, the opening ceremony at the Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in the Barbadian capital will also see speeches from Barbados’s Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, the current chair who took over from Mitchell in January 2025; Montserrat’s Premier Reuben T Meader; and CARICOM Secretary-General Dr Carla Barnett. The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be among other dignitaries representing various international bodies at the event.

The three-day conference, which is themed “Strength in Unity: Forging Caribbean Resilience. Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development”, will take up regional issues ranging from food and nutrition security, climate change and finance, security issues, digital resilience, the situation on Haiti and CARICOM Single Market and Economy. Matters such as maritime and air transport and reparations will also be discussed. 

Assistant Secretary-General for Foreign and Community Relations with the CARICOM Secretariat, Elizabeth Solomon, called the upcoming meeting as one “of great interest”. She said the event was taking place at a focal time for the hemisphere (western) and would offer an opportune moment to discuss CARICOM’s approach to several significant matters. 

“It is important for the Region to unite and speak with one voice on many issues, and this is an excellent opportunity under Prime Minister Mottley’s leadership, who began her chairmanship of CARICOM at the start of 2025,” she said. 

A special meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) will be held before the opening ceremony. Solomon called the meeting “very important” and noted that CARICOM foreign ministers offer key advice to the Heads of Government on foreign-policy issues. 

PM Mitchell as CARICOM chair

During Prime Minister Mitchell’s tenure as the chair, the CARICOM witnessed decisive leadership and collective action as key pillars to ensure the regional citizens’ prosperity and well-being. He took over at the time when Hurricane Beryl hit many of the islands in the region, including his own country, and the organization's member-states rallied to support those who were affected.

The CARICOM also worked on resuming functional governance and security in Haiti by engaging with its political leadership. There were also efforts of facilitation with political, religious, private sector and civil society stakeholders by the CARICOM Eminent Persons Group to establish peace in the country. 

It was also during PM Mitchell’s tenure that Antigua and Barbuda, one of the CARICOM member-states, hosted an international conference on small-island developing states (SIDS) where a new 10-year programme of action called the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS was articulated. 

Among other areas that received a special focus under Mitchell’s chairmanship are digital resilience, food and nutrition security, reducing food import bills and improving air and maritime connectivity. He promoted the Strategic Digital Resilience Network 2030 at the July Meeting of the CARICOM heads of government.

In the food sector, a regional agricultural insurance product was launched to support farmers in the CARICOM region. Women and young people’s involvement was encouraged with CARICOM BOOST, a $1.6 million project to improve sustainable production, climate resilience and profitability for women and youth farmer groups across 10 CARICOM member-states.

Key international engagements were also held under Mitchell, including those with India, Brazil, Japan and Canada. 

The CARICOM is a political and economic union of 15 member states (14 countries and one dependency) and many associated members throughout the Americas, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. Its primary objective is to promote economic integration and cooperation among its member-states, ensure that the integration benefits all equitably, and coordinate foreign policy.