Above: CARICOM Headquarters in Guyana

By the Caribbean Journal staff

New Zealand has named its first-ever Ambassador to the Caribbean Community.

Jan Henderson, who is also accredited to a number of CARICOM Member States, presented her letters of credence to Irwin LaRocque, Secretary General of CARICOM, in a ceremony last week.

Henderson said her accreditation “demonstrated the firm desire of her government to build on the traditional linkages with the Caribbean.”

She pledged to work to “strengthen existing linkages and to create new ones.”

New Zealand opened its first-ever permanent diplomatic presence in the Caribbean in Bridgetown, Barbados in March 2014.

New Zealand has been working with the region on several projects in recent months, including engaging St Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines in the area of geothermal energy.

Henderson said New Zealand could be a “bridge” between CARICOM and the Pacific Island Forum, which consists mostly of similar small-island states.