Africa, Caribbean move to strengthen relations

For decades, Africa and the Caribbean have been taking about cementing close relations, establishing air links and taking advantage of tourism opportunities among other topics.

Not much has actually fructified in recent decades, but if the speed at which the two are moving this time to forge concrete links is anything to go by, then strong and fruitful relations lie ahead.

In late 2021 Africa and the Caribbean held their first leaders summit during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, laying the groundwork for what is occurring today. By mid 2022, Africa’s Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) had opened an office in Barbados and told the region that it had set aside $1.5 billion in concession loans for areas which governments and the private sector can identify.

And just this week, more than 250 African delegates flew by chartered Ethiopian Airlines jumbo jet to the Caribbean Community headquarters in Guyana for the two-day, second Afri-Caribbean Trade and Investment that began on Monday, following up on the first, which Barbados had hosted late last year. By the end of the day, the bank had committed to increase the available borrowing ceiling to a whooping $3 billion in the coming months and to even help the region set up its own export-import bank.

Individually, Guyana is going after a $500 million loan to improve infrastructural development while St. Lucia, represented by Prime Minister Phillip Pierre himself, said it had copped a $16 million loan to repair schools destroyed or damaged by recent storms.

“We must persevere and forge ahead, mindful that the path we have chosen is the shock absorber we need at this time. In a de-globalizing world, small, open economies will suffer if they don’t bind together, and there can be no better bidding than that of brothers and sisters represented by AfriCaribbean trade and investment integration,” said Bank Chairman Prof. Benedict O. Oramah. “Afreximbank expects to begin the process of developing the Afreximbank Africa Trade Centre in Barbados before the end of next year. This facility will host the permanent Caribbean office and also incorporate a hotel, trade information, and conferencing and exhibition facilities,” he said.

Oramah also said that 11 of the 15 CARICOM member nations had signed the partnership treaty within the past year, noting the lightning speed at which mandates are being achieved.

Attempting to give a proper context to Africa-CARICOM relations meanwhile, regional Secretary General Carla Barnett noted that total CARICOM-Africa trade for 2021 had reached $538 million with a trade balance in Africa’s favor of $110 million, noting that “total trade in 2021 declined from a high of US$1.177 billion in 2018 when trade was nearly balanced. There is much work to be done. CARICOM is a strong performer in services, especially in sectors such as travel, tourism, and financial services, and there are real opportunities for investment and trade in the services sector as well as in the agriculture and industrial sectors. And, of course, we have among us the country categorized as the fastest growing economy in the world, Guyana,” urging the region to cash in on trade with the continent.