Caricom, Saudi Arabia agree to co-operate on several issues

CARICOM and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have agreed to pursue collaboration on several areas of mutual interest.

Both parties released a joint statement at the end of the inaugural Caricom-Saudi Arabia summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Friday.

The summit was co-chaired by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Caricom chairman, Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.

The Prime Minister was among the Caricom leaders who attended the summit.

In the statement, Caricom and Saudi Arabia pledged to "join efforts to promote peace, security, stability and prosperity, through mutual respect and co-operation between countries and regions, to achieve sustainable development and progress and maintain the rules-based international order based on adherence to international law and the UN Charter."

There was no mention of any specific conflict taking place in any part of the world at this time.

Health, maritime co-operation, connectivity, logistics, food security, energy security and tourism were some possible areas of co-operation between Caricom and Saudi Arabia.

Both sides promised to promote trade and investment relations by "enhancing public-private partnership and business-to-business relations between both regions, using available and new physical and online platforms, trade missions, exhibitions, seminars, conferences, and dialogue."

Caricom agreed to support Saudi Arabia's bid to host Expo 2030 in Riyadh, "highlighting the importance of organising regional and international exhibitions to re-energise economic and cultural exchanges."

Within tourism, Caricom and Saudi Arabia identified heritage, cruise, sustainable and ecotourism, medical and wellness tourism as areas where capacity building could happen.

On climate change, both sides agreed to work to address several issues on this front, including "promoting equitable access to climate financing for Small Island Developing States (SIDS)."

In the realm of sport, Caricom endorsed Saudi Arabia's bid to host the FIFA 2034 World Cup.

Saudi Arabia reciprocated by throwing its support behind the Caribbean to host next year's ICC Cricket.