Above: regional flags at the talks in London (Photo: UKG)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Officials from the British government and across CARICOM met in London this week for high-level talks.

The UK side included Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for the Caribbean Mark Simmonds and other UK Ministers.

The biennial UK-CARICOM forum came two years after the previous forum at the Grenadian by Rex Resorts hotel in Grenada in 2012. It had previously been held in London in 2008 and was first convened in Nassau in 1998.

In a statement from the FCO, the UK said the talks focused on “joint efforts to promote prosperity and encourage economic growth.”

The forum additionally included a trade and investment event which included “new business opportunities in the Caribbean,” the UK said.

The two-day forum saw assembled Caribbean ministers meet with UK Members of Parliament and the Earl of Wessex, among others.

Other topics included education and energy, with an emphasis on the potential of green fuels in the Caribbean.

“The UK has a unique relationship with the Caribbean, based on friendship, mutual understanding and shared values,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after the talks. “The Forum allowed us to celebrate that relationship but, more importantly, was an opportunity to look forward and agree concrete steps to promote prosperity and boost economic growth for both the Caribbean and the UK.”