PORT OF SPAIN: 8TH JULY, 2021
Senator the Honourable Dr. Amery Browne, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs, chaired a video conference between Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), CARICOM Secretariat officials, Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) and United States Public Health and White House COVID-19 Response officials. The meeting took place on 7th July, 2021.
Key attendees were Foreign Ministers the Honourable Chet Greene (Antigua and Barbuda), Senator Dr. the Honourable Jerome Walcott (Barbados), Senator the Honourable Eamon Courtney (Belize) and the Honourable Mark Brantley (St. Kitts and Nevis); Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, CARICOM Secretary-General; Dr. Joy St. John, Executive Director, CARPHA; Dr. Hilary Marston, M.D., M.P.H., Medical Officer and Policy Advisor for Pandemic Preparedness of the Office of the Chief of Staff of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Colonel Matt Clark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Mr. Machmud Makhmudov, Policy Advisor, Office of COVID Response, the White House.
Several critical issues were resolved during the discussion, which focused on arrangements related to the U.S.-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine donations to be received by CARICOM Member States, as announced recently by the U.S. Government.
CARICOM Foreign Ministers acknowledged that the dialogue was very fruitful and renewed their commitment to continue working extensively with the U.S. Government to hasten the acquisition process, while ensuring due diligence to fulfil all the necessary requirements to receive the vaccine donations in the Region in the shortest possible time.
