EU-Caribbean Leaders Meeting: PM Phillips calls for greater security cooperation and climate financing
Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d), the Honourable Mark Phillips, called for enhanced security cooperation, urgent climate financing, and stronger multilateral mechanisms during the EU-Caribbean Leaders Meeting, held earlier today in Santa Marta, Colombia, as part of the IV CELAC-EU Summit.
The high-level meeting, convened by the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, brought together leaders of Caribbean CELAC countries to exchange views on matters of critical importance to both regions and the world at large.
Prime Minister Phillips underscored Guyana’s commitment to maintaining the region as a Zone of Peace, while emphasising that the nations share a collective interest in addressing existing and emerging security threats, including threats to sovereignty and territorial integrity, issues of transnational crime, cybersecurity, and risks associated with inequality and irregular migration.
He referenced a recent tragic incident on Guyana’s shores that underscores the urgency of enhanced security cooperation.
“Just yesterday, our country buried a six-year-old girl, Soraya Bourne, innocent victim of what we believe to be a terrorist bombing at a gas station in our nation’s capital linked to migrants. It could have been much worse! But this is one too many. Guyana is now on a new level of alert to prevent a recurrence.”
The Prime Minister stressed that combating these threats requires cooperation and collaboration at multiple levels and across several fronts, which include information and intelligence sharing, capacity building, joint research, and norm-setting. He noted too that the world is now much more integrated and interconnected, demanding enhanced coordinated responses.
“The UN Charter and international law provide an essential safeguard and we must continue to advocate for and insist on this… but today’s increasingly complex environment demands a more effective multilateralism, through strengthened international cooperation and enhanced governance supported by more agile and responsive mechanisms.”
He stressed this becomes increasingly pervasive due to the misuse of artificial intelligence and threats posed by disinformation and misinformation.
Turning to climate change, Prime Minister Phillips said that Hurricane Melissa has provided a stark illustration of the existential threat facing the region, emphasising that the need for critical support in enabling adaptation, addressing loss and damage, and building resilience cannot be overstated.
He was keen to reiterate that climate response is inextricably linked to the availability and accessibility of financing at scale, and to the treatment of debt caused or compounded by climate disasters.
“The global financial system must become nimbler in mobilising short-term equity for crisis response and long-term funding for sustainable development, as proposed in the Bridgetown Initiative.”
He also urged greater political support for the application of the multidimensional vulnerability index, noting that it directly affects access to concessional financing for climate-affected states.
Additionally, the Guyanese Prime Minister acknowledged the long history of collaboration between the EU and the Caribbean, including through facilities such as the EU-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement. He expressed Guyana’s appreciation for the cooperation both bilaterally and through regional and global frameworks, including the Global Gateway initiative.