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Posted: Thursday 23 January, 2020 at 1:11 PM

PM Holness: Discussion was on national, regional interest, not division

By: Staff Reporter, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - DESPITE criticisms from the across the Caribbean region, the meeting between regional leaders and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has been described as timely.

     

    While speaking at a press conference yesterday morning (Jan. 22), host Prime Minister, Andrew Holness of Jamaica explained that he and the Secretary of State were engaged in critical matters of national and regional interest.

    “The aim of our talks was to reaffirm our mutual commitment to partnering for greater peace and prosperity in our respective countries,” Holiness said.

    The Prime Minister reaffirmed that his country does not engage in any policy that seeks to divide CARICOM, which is an important pillar to the region’s development.

    “We are happy to host them here, not to the exclusion of anyone. And if anyone wanted to attend they just had to signal. And from my perspective, we would have done everything to ensure they were present.”

    The meeting with Pompeo was harshly criticised by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who is the Chairman of CARICOM, and a number of other regional leaders who were not invited to the meeting.

    Many of them were of the view that the United States had initiated the meeting to divide the region on a number of critical matters.

    However, while responding to reporters’ questions about the comments, Prime Minister Holness pointed to the sovereignty of member states, stating that it was a bilateral meeting that saw Jamaica discussing critical matters with its largest trading partner.
    This is the second time that many regional leaders were not invited to meetings with representatives of the Donald Trump administration. The first one was held at Trump’s Mar Lago Resort in Florida in 2019.

    In responding to the criticism, Secretary Pompeo acknowledged that “there is no intention from the United States to divide CARICOM”, something that has been bandied around the region since disclosure of the intended meeting.

    “We want all the countries of this region to prosper and be successful. And we know countries in this region will agree with the United States on certain positions from time to time, and disagree with us from time to time. And that is true for Jamaica and that is true for the other folks I will visit with this afternoon.

    “We welcome the leadership that Jamaica has demonstrated in this region, in the Caribbean,” Pompeo said.

    Concerns were also expressed about the timing of the meeting being hosted ahead a vote for the Leader of the Organisation of American States (OAS).

    Many suggested that Pompeo was trumping up support for the candidate whom the United States is in support of.

    Secretary Pompeo was asked about the vote and the US support at the press conference. 

    “We have made very clear who we think should be the next leader of the OAS. And we have that very clear because he has demonstrated his ability to return financial stability to the institution and return the institution to a really important place. So there is absolutely no intent to divide. We have conversations and dialogue with every country and we welcome that,” was his response.
     
    Discussions were held yesterday afternoon with regional leaders in an open forum.
     
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