Latest update August 4th, 2026 12:30 AM
Kamla skips Caricom Summit in Jamaica
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers is leading Trinidad and Tobago’s delegation at the Caricom summit in Jamaica.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will not be attending.
In a media release on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs said T& T’s contingent to the 49th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom will include Minister of Homeland Security Roger Alexander; acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs and head of the Foreign Service Randall Karim; T& T Ambassador to Caricom Ralph Maraj; and director of Caricom and Caribbean Affairs Ayesha Wharton.
The Caricom meeting opened on Sunday and will conclude on Tuesday in Montego Bay, and will be hosted by Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness. The release said Persad-Bissessar has sent ‘written greetings to Prime Minister Holness and briefed her ministers on the critical role placed by her administration on relations between Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean Community’.
It added, ‘In advance of the meeting she engaged virtually in discussions with her regional counterparts to advance Trinidad and Tobago’s positions on several items on the agenda including the Caricom Single Market and Economy; Advancing the Caricom Agri-Food Systems Agenda-Prioritising Regional Food and Nutritional Security; and the Report from the Prime-Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations.’ During the Caricom meeting, Sobers is expected to ‘engage in bilateral discussions with his counterpart, Senator Kamina Johnson- Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, of Jamaica on matters of mutual interest between both countries, including regional energy initiatives, trade and investment relations, cultural exchanges, immigration issues, and potential areas of cooperation in national and regional security.
‘Minister Alexander is also set to engage with his counterpart, the Honourable Dr Horace Chang, Minister of National Security, on matters of mutual concern. Minister Alexander will also participate in the Jamaica Constabulary Force Security Technology Expo that will take place in Montego Bay from July 6 to 8, 2025,’ it said.
The Persad-Bissessar administration hosted India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, during his official two-day visit to T& T, which ended on Friday. In a social media post yesterday, former foreign and Caricom affairs minister Dr Amery Browne said the Prime Minister’s decision to ‘absent herself’ from the Caricom meeting ‘sends all the wrong signals to our regional family’. He added, ‘Sending Ministers Sean Sobers and Roger Alexander in her stead does not compensate for her absence from these discussions with regional counterparts, particularly as Minister Sobers did not say one word at the recently held COFCOR meeting which he participated in virtually,’ Browne said on social media.
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