By Vernon Daley, Staff ReporterCOOLUM, Australia:
CARIBBEAN LEADERS met with British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday in follow-up discussions on a number of issues, including security, justice, investment and trade. The meeting is a follow-up to talks held between the British Prime Minister and Caribbean leaders in Jamaica last year July. Following that meeting a task force was set up to explore further, issues coming out of the talks.
"What is happening now is that we are continuing to discuss issues that came out of the task force," Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, K.D. Knight said on Tuesday. He said discussions on those issues would continue.
The third UK/Caribbean forum takes place in April this year, where there will be further discussions aimed at strengthening relations between Britain and the Caribbean. Following his meeting with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and CARICOM leaders last year Mr. Blair committed himself to working towards a "significant upgrading" of UK/CARICOM relations, with continued emphasis on helping to fight crime and the trafficking of narcotics.
Mr. Blair and CARICOM leaders also pledged to pay increased attention to trade, investment, and educational and cultural ties. Prime Ministers Hubert Ingraham of the Bahamas, Owen Arthur of Barbados, Dr. Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts/Nevis, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, President of Guyana Bharrat Jagdeo, Surinamese Vice President, Jules Adojha and Trinidad and Tobago's former Prime Minister, Basdeo Panday, were among the regional leaders at the talks with the British Prime Minister. Following bilateral talks with Prime Minister Patterson, and separate discussions with CARICOM heads at Jamaica House, Prime Minister Blair said that improved foreign relations between Britain and her former Caribbean colonies were "long overdue".
Mr. Blair pointed out that Britain and several Caribbean countries have been co-operating to police more effectively the trafficking of illegal drugs. Areas of co-operation include a number of bilateral initiatives between the UK and Jamaica.
"The issues of crime and drugs are tremendously important and that's why we're agreeing on a set of intensive measures to deal with that problem," Mr. Blair said last year. However, he stressed that attention would not be restricted to crime and law enforcement matters in forging closer UK/CARICOM relations, since trade and investment, education and cultural ties were also critical to the development of the Caribbean's "tremendous future in investment and tourism".
