A UNITED STATES Congressman hopes Caribbean nations hard hit by the global financial crisis get economic opportunities as a result of high-level talks here this week.
Gregory Meeks, chairman of the United States (US) House of Representatives sub-committee for international monetary policy, expects positive things from the one-day meeting in Barbados on Wednesday between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Caribbean leaders and their foreign ministers.
“For me, I am hoping that we have clear trade agreements and economic opportunities for the countries of the Caribbean working in true partnership with the United States of America,” Meeks told the DAILY NATION in New York.
“We must provide people in the region with opportunities to enter the global economy. We must also be sensitive as we pursue financial regulatory reform in this country. We must understand that many of the countries in the Caribbean are trying to diversify their economies and that we are not choking them off by any unintended consequences.”
Meeks, who had to bow out of Clinton’s delegation to the Caribbean meeting because of pressing business this week, hopes Washington and the Caribbean reach agreement on ways to boost the region’s ability to reduce the use of the island-nations as major transit centres for illegal narcotics bound for North America and Europe.
“If we can reach some agreement to prevent narcotics trafficking, that would be very positive for both the US and the Caribbean,” he added. “We are also hoping for an agreement on trade and preferences agreements that would continue in the years ahead.”
Meeks described the talks and Clinton’s presence in the Caribbean as another indication of the secretary of state’s determination to reverse previous US policy towards the region.
“It is a follow-up of a commitment that she made since becoming secretary of state,” Meeks said. “She talked about this when she travelled with President Barack Obama and when I travelled with her myself. The commitment is not to take the Caribbean for granted.
“After all, they are our friends, right off the coast of the United States. We have to ensure that we work in a co-operative way. She is looking at the situation in which the Caribbean nations find themselves and how we all can work collaboratively; whether it is in the area of economics, dealing with drug prevention, educational opportunities for people in the Caribbean, immigration or a whole host of other issues.”
Meeks represents a congressional district in New York City which has an immigrant population made of thousands of Caribbean people.
