PM BROWNE URGES DECISIVE ACTION ON TRADE, CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Prime Minister Hon. Gaston Browne has urged fellow leaders of the Caribbean and Africa to negotiate a preferential trade agreement.

He was addressing the second Africa-Caricom Summit underway in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as Sunday is celebrated as Africa-Caribbean Day.

Prime Minister Browne urged action, telling his colleagues, “Too often, we have allowed hesitation to paralyze action. Too often, eloquence in speeches has not been matched by courage in deeds.”

He said a preferential trade agreement must be negotiated with the fierce urgency of now, pointing to the fact that despite an aggregate market of 1.5 billion people, trade between both regions is negligible.

He also called for the establishment of an Africa–Caribbean Academic Network, saying this would “allow our brightest minds to collaborate, innovate, and solve common problems together.”

He envisions student exchanges, joint degree programmes and shared research networks.

The Prime Minister made an equally impassioned call for action on the issue of connectivity between Africa and the Caribbean. He says Africa has the flights, including Air Peace, Ghana Air and Ethiopian Airlines and says the Caribbean has the will. Prime Minister Browne says “even one weekly flight can begin the process.”

He continued: “if a coalition of states must subsidize it, let us do so. The symbolic and strategic value of that single flight will outweigh its costs.”