Roseau, Dominica: Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit will join the European Union- Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) Summit scheduled for July 17-18, 2023, in Brussels, Belgium.
Representatives of EU-CELAC member states will address a wide range of topics, including Confronting Climate Change: Towards a Fair and Sustainable Transition, Fair and Inclusive, Digital Transformation: Bridging Digital Gaps and Fostering Research and Innovation: Citizen Security, Justice, Fighting Transnational Organized Crime, and Trade, Sustainable Development and Economic Recovery in the Post-Pandemic Period.”
The Summit will be co-chaired by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, in his role as CELAC pro tempore president.
In Brussels, the Prime Minister will join his colleague Heads of OECS member states for discussions on the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) with officials of the European Union.
In the Prime Minister’s absence from the state, the Minister for Health, Wellness and Social Services, Cassanni Lavie, will serve as Acting Prime Minister.
Many heads of government and diplomats will attend the reception, providing an opportunity for informal meetings and moments of familiarization ahead of the first day of the EU-CELAC Summit tomorrow (July 17).
The heads of state and government from both EU and CELAC member states will attend the Summit. Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, and Ralph Gonsalves, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the CELAC pro tempore president, will co-chair it.
SVG will get a chance to discuss several issues at the EU-CELAC Summit 2023, which consists of 60 countries representing 1.2 billion people.
The Summit will also see the participation of the President of the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
“It’s very important that we keep working with the region as the region presents itself to us,” the officials said, noting that matters such as the Bridgetown initiative, which Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is spearheading, would also be an agenda item for the EU-CELAC summit.
The Bridgetown Initiative is being compared to the Marshall Plan of 1948, when the United States provided more than US$13 billion of foreign aid to help Western Europe recover after World War II.