The Hon. Alva Baptiste, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora Affairs, on July 17 and 18, led a Saint Lucia delegation to the third European Union - Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) Summit held in Brussels, Belgium.

Hon. Baptiste represented Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre who was unable to attend due to competing engagements. The conference was the first EU-CELAC Summit held in eight years, and it allowed for a deepening of the political dialogue between the two groups of states on crucial developments in the international community.

Hon. Baptiste was among Caribbean Leaders who urged the EU to prioritize addressing a plethora of key issues, including contributing towards a more positive engagement with the rest of the region on the security and humanitarian crisis in Haiti, the harmonization of trade and investment efforts which are more cognizant of the context of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and honouring pledges to fund Climate Loss and Damage. The EU was also urged to be more assertive in the calls for putting an end to the United States’ economic embargo against Cuba and its sanctions on Venezuela.

Hon. Baptiste also expressed Saint Lucia’s categorical support for the adoption of The Bridgetown Initiative - a brainchild of Barbadian Prime Minister, Hon. Mia Amor Mottley - which puts forward a radical framework for financing climate resilience for SIDS. Minister Baptiste further appealed to the European Union for the finalization of the EU-CARIFORUM Post Cotonou Agreement.

Given their demands for greater equity in the relationship between the two regional blocs, the CELAC leaders welcomed the EU announcement of its Global Gateway Agenda which commits EURO forty-five billion dollars (€45bn) to support a reinforced partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean, until 2027.