UK-Caribbean Forum is co-chaired by Deputy PM Condor

St. Kitts Nevis: A three-day U.K.-Caribbean forum in Grenada, held under the theme ‘Sustainable Growth toward Prosperity’, is being co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Sam Condor, according to a report in the St. Kitts Nevis Observer.

The Seventh Biennial U.K.-Caribbean Forum is being chaired by Condor, as the Chair of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), and U.K. Foreign Secretary, the Rt. Hon.William Hague, according to a CARICOM news release.

The Observer said reports indicate that a sticking point in the “vigorous and frank political dialogue" has been the much-maligned U.K. Air Passenger Duty (APD), which is a fee imposed on air travelers departing from British airports. Caribbean governments, the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) have all protested the negative impact that the APD has placed on a fragile regional economy over the past two years.

The Observer said that in his remarks at the opening ceremony on Friday, Condor noted that the U.K. delegation was the largest he had observed attending the forum and posited that it signified the importance that Britain attached to the event and expressed his hope that the relationship between the U.K. and the Caribbean would be rejuvenated, and would redound to the benefit of the peoples of both regions.

CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque asserted that the U.K. Treasury’s present four-band APD system was discriminatory against the Caribbean and its Diaspora in the U.K. and pointed to crime and security as being among the major challenges to be addressed at the forum, which began talks early Saturday morning, according to the Observer article.

In welcoming the delegations, Grenada’s Foreign Minister the Hon. Karl Hood noted that the forum emphasized the determination of both sides to build and strengthen the system of dialogue which started some 14 years ago.
The event agenda was organized around the three broad areas: economic resilience, security, and the environment.