MIAMI, Florida — Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to the Caribbean next month — her first trip to the region since taking office — to discuss climate change, energy, food security and economic prosperity in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House confirmed to the Miami Herald.
In an article written by Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald reported on Wednesday, May 24, that Harris will visit Nassau, Bahamas, on June 8, and along with Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis will co-host a gathering of leaders from the Dominican Republic and the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc known as CARICOM. Davis is currently chairman of CARICOM, which has recently been stepping up its foreign engagement with the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.
The Bahamas meeting will build on previous meetings the vice president has had with Caribbean leaders, including at last year’s Ninth Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. During the summit, President Joe Biden promised to “intensify” relations between the United States and the Caribbean after he dropped in on a discussion between Harris and Caribbean leaders, much to the delight of the presidents and prime ministers who had complained about poor relations in recent years.
With Harris taking the lead, the U.S. used the summit to roll out a new “Caribbean Climate Partnership” to tackle climate change and the region’s energy crisis. The focus is to help Caribbean governments get better access to financing for climate and clean-energy projects, and make the transition from fossil fuels— something some member states told the Biden administration they are not quite yet ready to do, given the concentration of oil and natural gas reserves in Trinidad, Suriname and Guyana.
After the in-person gathering at the Summit of the Americas, where Caribbean leaders spoke about their priorities and concerns after the COVID-19 pandemic rattled their economies, high-level U.S. and Caribbean teams went to work on how best to address the energy and food security crises in the region. Harris then convened a group of Caribbean leaders at the Blair House in Washington to review the progress and decide on the next steps.
Harris and Caribbean leaders will continue those discussions during the Bahamas meeting, Kirsten Allen, the vice president’s press secretary, said.
“The vice president’s trip delivers on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to advance cooperation with the Caribbean in pursuit of shared prosperity and security, and in recognition of the common bonds and interests between our nations,” she added.
See article in the Miami Herald at https://news.yahoo.com/vice-president-kamala-harris-meet-200301539.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
