Australia and the 15 member countries of the Caribbean community (CARICOM) signed a new Memorandum of Understanding today in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
This agreement will begin a new phase in Australia's relations with the countries of the Caribbean, with an emphasis on building regional economic resilience and integration and supporting small island states address the threat of climate change.
The centrepiece of the new relationship will be a $60 million development partnership over four years.
Many Caribbean states are vulnerable to the impact of climate change and natural disasters. The new partnership will provide a framework for cooperation on climate change adaptation, renewable energy, disaster risk reduction, natural disaster management, food security and agriculture.
The partnership will provide support to the CARICOM Climate Change Centre located in Belize and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency in Barbados to build capacity and draw on Australian expertise. It will also support the CARICOM Development Fund's activities in the region.
The partnership will also expand the new Australia Awards international scholarship program to the Caribbean. Eighty students from CARICOM countries will benefit from postgraduate scholarships for study in Australia over the next four years. The first Awards scholars will take up their awards in 2011. Education links will also be expanded through building ties between the Australian National University, the University of the South Pacific and the University of the West Indies
The partnership will help to build Australia's links with the people of the Caribbean through an expanded sport for development program and the placement of Australian volunteers and technical experts in selected countries.
Under the new agreement, Australia and the countries of the Caribbean will maintain close contact on responding to international challenges such as climate change and the global financial crisis, including through the G20 of which Australia is a member. A key focus of Australia's support will be strengthening business opportunities through improving access to micro-finance measures to promote capacity and governance drawing on Australia's experience in the Pacific.
Australia's High Commissioner to Trinidad and Tobago, Philip Kentwell, will be accredited as non-resident Ambassador to CARICOM.
Australia and the Caribbean have long enjoyed friendly relations based on shared historical, sporting, social and political ties and membership of the Commonwealth.
CARICOM's 15 members are: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.