Photo: @JosefinaVidalF
By: Roberto Morejón
Several conclaves were held over the five-day event, including the Colombia-CARICOM meeting in Cartagena de Indias, where Colombia applied to join the Caribbean Community.
Colombians hosted the tenth ACS Summit in Montería, a city not widely featured in tourist guides, where cooperation on climate change, food security and migration was promoted.
After a very active year, Colombia ceded the pro tempore presidency of the Association of Caribbean States to Panama, as several speakers acknowledged.
The tenth ACS summit, comprising 25 member states and seven associate members, aimed to contribute to the meeting's theme, 'United for Life: Towards a More Sustainable Wider Caribbean”.
The Montería Declaration, signed at the end of the summit, included concrete commitments on climate change and coastal resilience, as well as addressing debt-for-climate action swaps.
Experts considered it a success for the Greater Caribbean to hold the meeting during such turbulent times on the planet, and for it to take a step towards a new political and environmental pact in defence of the sea, coasts and communities.
Support for the consolidation of the Greater Caribbean as a region of peace, biodiversity and resilience was generated during both the summit and Colombia's pro tempore presidency.
The Cuban Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josefina Vidal, emphasised the dangers posed by climate change, pollution, the displacement of sargassum and coastal erosion; hence her call for urgent and concerted action.
The speaker's idea of making international efforts to have the Caribbean Sea declared a Special Zone in the context of Sustainable Development has followers.
Vidal also stressed the need to transform the Association of Caribbean States into an implementation network prioritising coastal and marine resource conservation and tourism, based on scientific and technological solutions.
Although the Association of Caribbean States is not widely known, it is important for the region as it has great potential to strengthen South-South cooperation.
