The Good News is that after a very fruitful three day visit of Barbados by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, inclusive of discussions with Prime Ministers Mia Mottley and Allan Chastenet , Ministers representing Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Vincent & the Grenadines, and Suriname, and CARICOM Secretary General Irwin La Roche, it was announced that :
1. Efforts will be made to stage a CARICOM/ AFRICAN UNION Heads of Government Summit over the next 12 months.
2. CARICOM and the AU will shortly sign a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a framework for engagement and cooperation.
3. Barbados and Suriname will partner in establishing an Embassy in Ghana.
4. Barbados and St Lucia will partner in establishing an Embassy in Kenya — and an invitation has been sent out to all other CARICOM countries to join in the venture.
4. The University of the West Indies will be undertaking student and faculty exchanges and joint education initiatives with the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University.
5. A high level Kenyan delegation will be returning to Barbados in September to conclude a number of Agreements, inclusive of a Multilateral Air Services Agreement, a Double Taxation Agreement, and Revenue and Digital Currency agreements
6. The Barbados and Kenya Chambers of Commerce and Industry will commence engagement and collaboration with each other
7. There is a committment to resist any dividing of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of Nations, as well as a committment to use the grouping to underake much closer South/South relations.
8. CARICOM and Kenya have started work on an MOU for engagement and cooperation.
9. The African and Caribbean governments have committed to establishing direct air travel links between Africa and the Caribbean.
10. The time has come for Africa and the Caribbean to re-connect and unite and engage with each other as members of a family in every positive and constructive way.
