Welcome
Foreign Minister Steinmeier – we want to intensify our cooperation with the Caribbean Community
On 2 March, on the occasion of the Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Germany and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for which he had invited his Caribbean counterparts to the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Foreign Minister Steinmeier made the following statement:
I am pleased that many of my colleagues from the Caribbean states have accepted my invitation to come to Berlin. Together we have discussed ways to build on the excellent relations between Germany and CARICOM.
We are united not only by shared values, but also in our efforts to master the challenges that concern us in equal measure around the world as responsible members of the international community. Our meeting in Berlin focused on key global questions such as climate change and its effects as well as how we can guarantee a secure and clean supply of energy for the future. The CARICOM states and Germany intend to work even more closely together on these and other global topics within the United Nations and other international bodies in the future.
Equally, it was important to me to maintain a political dialogue on current international issues with my counterparts. Our consultations provided a deep insight into developments in Latin America and the Caribbean, be it with regard to the difficult situation in Venezuela or the realignment of relations between the US and Cuba. By the same token, our Caribbean partners have expressed great interest in discussing German and European efforts to overcome the crisis in the European neighbourhood. We have agreed to hold political consultations at regular intervals in the future.
Furthermore, our guests are using their visit to conduct intensive talks with German companies in Berlin and Hamburg. This shows that our relations not only have a political dimension but that they are also based on a strong pillar of economic cooperation for which we have the many committed companies and business associations to thank.
Further information:
Representatives of 14 countries, the CARICOM Secretary-General and the President of the Caribbean Development Bank took part in the conference today. The following participants attended representing the partner countries:
- The Foreign Ministers of Guyana – as Co‑Chair of CARICOM –, the Bahamas, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia as well as Trinidad and Tobago,
- The Tourism Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and
- Ambassadors of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Haiti, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Suriname.
Alongside the Federal Foreign Office, high‑ranking representatives of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy and of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development took part in the all‑day conference on behalf of the German Government.
