Georgetown [Guyana], April 22 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his counterpart from Saint Lucia, Alva Baptiste and said he appreciated his insights at the India-CARICOM ministerial held in Guyana on Friday.
The EAM took to his Twitter on Saturday and informed of his meeting with the Saint Lucian counterpart at breakfast this morning.
"Good to catch up with FM of St. Lucia Alva Baptiste at breakfast this morning. Appreciated his insights at the India-CARICOM meeting yesterday. Look forward to taking our development partnership forward," the External Affairs Minister tweeted.
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is an island nation with a pair of dramatically tapered mountains, the Pitons, on its west coast. Castries, the nation's capital, is a major cruise port.
On Friday, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar co-chaired the 4th India-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting with his Jamaican counterpart Kamina J Smith at the CARICOM Secretariat in Guyana, where he emphasised the need for "collective interest" in the field of renewable energy amid climate change.
Delivering opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar said, "Energy, renewable energy particularly, is our collective interest. Many of you are members of the International Solar Alliance. I think 13 members are there from the CARICOM. I believe it's been of some help in capacity building, in some cases even funding. I'll be again open to take that help. Regarding capacity building as a whole, we have for many years now, under what we call, the ITEC programs."
The foreign minister, however, noted that the offtake in programs, exchanges, and scholarships has not been as strong.
The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) were established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago and came into effect on August 1, 1973. Subsequently, the other eight Caribbean territories joined CARICOM, as per CARICOM's official website.
"Appreciate perspectives of FMs of Suriname -Albert Ramdin, Kitts & Nevis- Denzil Douglas, St. Lucia- Alva Baptiste, Saint Vincent & Grenadines- Keisal Peters, Barbados- Kerrie Symmonds, Trinidad- Amery Browne, Dominica- Vince Henderson, Grenada- Joseph Andall & representatives from Belize and Bahamas," the EAM tweeted.
Jaishankar on Friday also met with Carla Natalie Barnett, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Guyana and exchanged views for intensifying India-CARICOM ties.
Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar said, "Thank Secretary General Dr Carla Natalie Barnett for the warm welcome at the @CARICOMorg."
"Congratulated her at #CARICOM50. Exchanged views for intensifying India-CARICOM ties in traditional as well as new areas of cooperation."
Earlier, he also held a meeting with Suriname counterpart Albert Ramdin in Guyana and stressed further strengthening the "age-old ties" between the two nations.
Jaishankar arrived in Guyana on Friday for a three-day visit to the country. On reaching the Guyanese capital of Georgetown, the EAM was received by Guyana's Foreign Minister Hugh Todd.
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