United Nations, (Prensa Latina) The Caribbean Community (Caricom) called for increased international support to Africa to face the challenges of stability and development in that continent.
The global commitments, particularly the promised Official Development Assistance, must be fully honored, said Guyana on behalf of the 15-member bloc in the General Assembly, where a forum devoted to discuss alliances for progress, peace and the end of conflicts in Africa.
In his speech, the permanent Guyanese Ambassador to the UN, George Talbot, also referred to the need to increase the flow of foreign direct investment to the region, South-South cooperation and assistance in the field of food security.
According to the diplomat, the support of the African Union in crisis prevention and peace promotion is also essential.
In Caricom we are committed to this continent, and we support their countries’ demand to count on a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, he said.
Talbot highlighted the longstanding cultural links between the Caribbean and Africa, “reinforced by the common struggles for political independence, economic emancipation and against colonialism and apartheid.”
He expressed the Caribbean countries’ solidarity with African nations hit by the Ebola epidemics, mainly Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where some 4,400 people have been killed and some 8,000 have been infected, a situartion compounded by the presence of malaria, HIV/AIDS, terrorism, violent extremism and transnational organized crime.