GEORGETOWN, Guyana – India on Wednesday outlined a number of areas ranging from health to energy as well as technology in which it says it is prepared to assist Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries in their future socio-economic development.
India’s Prime Minster Narendra Modi addressing the opening of the second CARICOM-India Summit in Guyana (CMC {hoto)Addressing the second CARICOM-India summit here, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. used the acronym of the 15-member regional integration movement to outline how his Asian country will provide the assistance.
“India has always made efforts to work together with CARICOM to address these challenges, whether it was COVID or natural disasters, capacity building or development work. India has moved forward shoulder to shoulder with all of you as a trust worthy partner,” Modi told the regional leaders.
The last CARICOM-India summit was held in 2019 in the margins of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and Modi said that the meeting had “identified several new and positive initiatives” and that “progress is being made on all of these.”
But he said in order to strengthen the future cooperation, India is outlining some suggestions for consideration based on seven key pillars using the CARICOM acronym.
He said for example in the area of capacity building, India will provide scholarships, training and technical assistance, proposing an additional 1,000 slots for high tech scholarships given by his country for the next five years.
He said India has established a technical training center in Belize and the intention is to expand its scale and size “so that it can be used by all CARICOM countries.
‘We will also work on crating a forensic center for the CARICOM region,” he said, noting that India has created a portal for the continuous training of public servants and New Delhi will be willing to do the same for the Caribbean.
He said n order to place “our cultural heritage on the world stage, we can organise what is a day of Indian culture festival along with CARICOM countries,” noting also that in the area of maritime development, he is proposing that to enhance connectivity “we supply passenger and cargo ferries.
“Together we can work on maritime domain mapping and hydrography,” he said, noting that last year, CARICOM launched a maritime security strategy in which cooperation to deal with drug trafficking, piracy, illegal fishing and human trafficking had been underlined.
“India would be happy to enhance cooperation with all of you in all of these areas,” he said.
Modi said in the area of health, India is prepared to assist regional countries deal with non-communicable diseases, noting that health security for CARICOM has been a high priority for his country.
He said India is working towards making health care available to the common man and has opened specialized health centers.
“I propose that we can offer similar …centres for generic medicines in CARICOM countries,” he said, adding “we can also consider setting up blood testing labs”.
He said in CARICOM countries cancer and non-communicable diseases are a major challenge and India has developed equipment “for convenient and on the spot treatment of people in remote areas we have set up what we call the …mobile hospital.
“These can be set up in just a few minutes and without wasting any time all kind of trauma treatment can be done. We would be happy to provide these mobile hospitals to our friends in CARICOM.”
Modi said India was also prepared to set up facilities in some or all CARICOM countries providing specialosed treatment to differently able people as well as dialysis units and sea ambulances.
Modi said India was also willing to send yoga teachers to the Caribbean to help spread yoga as a health therapy.
