Kenya to host virtual Africa-Caribbean summit to discuss trade, pandemic response

NAIROBI, Sept. 3 — Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will next week host the first African-Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit to discuss trade, cross-cultural exchanges and pandemic response.
The Sept. 7 virtual summit will be attended by heads of state and government from Africa and the Caribbean alongside representatives of regional economic blocs, the Kenyan foreign ministry said in a press release issued on Friday.
The theme of the summit will be “Unity Across Continents and Oceans: Opportunities for Deepening Integration,” the ministry said.
The summit will seek to promote closer collaboration between African diaspora, people of African descent, the Caribbean and Pacific region and their institutions, it said.
The event aims to actualize mutual aspirations of African and Caribbean states through enhanced economic, social and cultural ties even as they explore knowledge-sharing to boost the fight against COVID-19, the ministry said.
Other topics of discussion will include debt management and development financing, economic integration, trade, blue economy, transport connectivity and financial innovations.
Among the outcomes expected at the Africa-Caribbean summit are an integrated greater economic trade and investment pact and a collective approach to fighting the pandemic and climate change, the ministry said.
The summit will also galvanize momentum and support for the formation of the Africa-Brazil-Caribbean Development Commission, provide political goodwill and support for activities aimed at forging closer ties with the African diaspora, it said. (Xinhua)