And from last night at CARICOM to this morning with SICA - the regional meeting transitioned deftly to incorporating both Central America and Caribbean Nations.
Two Central American Presidents visited; Costa Rica's Carlos Alvarado arrived yesterday - while Guatemala's Alejandro Giamattei arrived this morning at 8:30 - just in time for the bi regional summit to start at 9:00.
Speaking at the opening, Prime Minster Briceno said the two regions must grasp their common destiny:
Hon. John Briceno - Prime Minister
"The last time the heads of the two sub regions met in Salvador was more than a decade ago. Then heads made a solid commitment to strengthen cooperation and engagement in areas of mutual interest that were integral to our development. The fact is our efforts have been less than satisfactory considering the common plight we face and the many opportunities for collaboration which we missed, this must now change. Belize has had the privilege to participate in integration systems of both CARICOM and SICA, our dual membership has allowed us a unique vantige point from which we see two groups of developing countries co existing in the middle of the Americas. The case for a closer partnership between CARICOM and SICA is compelling and urgent but achieving a functional partnership has so far eluded us. Together, our sub regions have a population of 60 million, a collective GDP of nearly 400 billion dollars, the possibilities for inter-regional trade are clear, the opportunities for cross regional investments are obvious. For sure, if we wanted to be so, a common future awaits us, let's grasp it, now, today."
Carlos Alvarado Quesada - President, Costa Rica
"I believe that the most important area today in what we should be working on together is in our voice, our common voice. The last report if IPCC the experts states that CARICOM as well as Central America are the most vulnerable areas of the world in terms of climate change."
Erika Mouynes - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Panama
"We need to think about how are we using the power of 22 states here together and in every single multilateral platform, we can come in as a block and we can set the pace or not and we can be proxy for others to decide what they want to do with us. So this is an incredible moment, an important one to set a common agenda, Central America together with the Caribbean is unbeatable in this hemisphere, we know it and we're not using it. The common agenda it as the end is the only way of survival for our region and we need to embrace it and we come out stronger, more powerful and recognizing what we can do."
The CARICOM SICA Summit wrapped at around 1:00 with a. Group shot - after which a number of the nations broke into bi-lateral meetings.
