As diplomacy becomes more complex…Non-interference within a country’s boundaries should be paramount

As diplomacy becomes more complex…Non-interference within a country’s boundaries should be paramount — says Foreign Minister

May 27, 2014 News

Foreign Affairs Minister Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett has outlined that diplomacy today has become far more complex and rapid in the digital era and adverted to the principles which continue to guide the Community such as “non-interference and the unhindered right of development within a country’s boundaries.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett

She made these pronouncements at the recently held Seventeenth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which took place in Georgetown, Guyana and of which she was the chairperson.
Rodrigues-Birkett welcomed Foreign Ministers and Heads of Delegations and expressed appreciation on behalf of her Colleagues to the Immediate Past Chair of the Council, the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
She underlined the importance of the process of introspection currently taking place within the Community to strengthen its pillars through the drafting of the Strategic Plan. “In this regard the COFCOR needed to be ready to respond to the prevailing changes in the hemispheric and international environment and to reposition itself accordingly.”
The Foreign Minister underlined several of the key foreign policy issues that would be engaging the attention of the Community. These included “climate change; the unacceptable characterization of CARICOM Member States as Middle Income Countries and the resulting ‘graduation’ and ‘differentiation’ from concessionary financing which did not take into account their diverse vulnerabilities.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister further outlined issues with “the foreign trade agenda and the need to improve trade relations which constituted a major foreign policy plank in view of the required efforts to resolve the problems of reciprocity between unequal partners, stringent conditionalities and market access obstacles including visa requirements for Community business persons; joint or shared diplomatic representation; the reform processes at the United Nations with regard to the Security Council and at the OAS [Organization of American States] where a new strategic vision was being envisioned; and preparations for coming engagements with Third States and for upcoming major international conferences.”
The Chairperson said that foreign policy coordination did not mean unanimity as there would always be instances of divergence of interests and views but outlined however that “the Community must maximize its joint voice by subduing individual interests to the extent possible.”
Rodrigues-Birkett said that the Caribbean Community has led on a number of issues with a common voice “such as the negotiations for the Arms Trade Treaty and Non-Communicable Diseases” and commended the role played by CARICOM diplomatic representatives in this regard.
She also underscored the importance of taking another look at joint and/or shared diplomatic representation and at Community Relations. As well as the “the need to deepen relations among and between Member States and to take advantage of each other’s strengths was underscored.”