KRISTY RAM­NAR­INE

kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

Pana­ma’s Min­is­ter of For­eign Af­fairs, Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez, has reaf­firmed his coun­try’s com­mit­ment to build­ing a more in­te­grat­ed, re­silient, and fu­ture-ready Caribbean. Speak­ing at the 31st an­niver­sary cel­e­bra­tion of the As­so­ci­a­tion of Caribbean States (ACS), held at the Pana­man­ian Em­bassy in Port-of-Spain on Ju­ly 29, Min­is­ter Vásquez out­lined a vi­sion of sol­i­dar­i­ty, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and co­op­er­a­tion.

Pana­ma cur­rent­ly chairs the ACS Min­is­te­r­i­al Coun­cil for the 2025–2026 term.

“We gath­er in a geopo­lit­i­cal en­vi­ron­ment that de­mands uni­ty, re­silience, and vi­sion,” he said. “The Caribbean—rich in cul­ture, peo­ple, and po­ten­tial—must rise as a force for co­op­er­a­tion, not di­vi­sion; for sus­tain­abil­i­ty and sol­i­dar­i­ty, not iso­la­tion.”

Ear­li­er in the day, Min­is­ter Vásquez paid a cour­tesy call on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar. At the an­niver­sary event, he em­pha­sised that Pana­ma’s lead­er­ship of the ACS would fo­cus on prac­ti­cal so­lu­tions to shared re­gion­al chal­lenges, in­clud­ing cli­mate re­silience, eco­nom­ic vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty, en­er­gy tran­si­tion, and im­proved fis­cal and dig­i­tal con­nec­tiv­i­ty.

“Our vi­sion is not dri­ven by ide­olo­gies,” he said. “It is dri­ven by val­ues—the de­fence of the rule of law, re­spect for hu­man rights, the pro­mo­tion of de­mo­c­ra­t­ic in­sti­tu­tions, and a firm be­lief in the dig­ni­ty of our peo­ple.”

ACS sec­re­tary gen­er­al Noemí Es­pinoza, who co-host­ed the cel­e­bra­tion with Pana­man­ian Am­bas­sador to T&T Diomedes Her­a­clio Car­les Cleghorn, urged mem­ber states to recom­mit to the mis­sion of the ACS and the promise of the Greater Caribbean.

“Let us con­tin­ue to project our re­gion as one of peace, rich in cul­tur­al and nat­ur­al di­ver­si­ty, and of strate­gic im­por­tance to the world,” she said.

Es­pinoza, who as­sumed of­fice in Jan­u­ary, ac­knowl­edged the re­gion’s on­go­ing chal­lenges but ex­pressed con­fi­dence in its col­lec­tive po­ten­tial.

“This an­niver­sary is an im­por­tant op­por­tu­ni­ty to recog­nise what we have built so far and re­flect on how we want to shape our fu­ture,” she said. “In to­day’s com­plex world, the ACS is more nec­es­sary than ever. It pro­vides a space where sol­i­dar­i­ty and co­op­er­a­tion can be trans­formed in­to con­crete re­spons­es to the crises that af­fect us dai­ly.”

Am­bas­sador Car­les Cleghorn re­flect­ed on the jour­ney of the ACS since its found­ing.

“For 31 years, the ACS has served as a bridge for co­op­er­a­tion, re­silience, and re­gion­al progress,” he said. “Cel­e­brat­ing the colours of the Greater Caribbean, we pay trib­ute to the rich di­ver­si­ty, cul­ture, and uni­ty that de­fine our re­gion. These colours rep­re­sent the voic­es, tra­di­tions, and shared as­pi­ra­tions of our peo­ple—wo­ven to­geth­er by his­to­ry, ge­og­ra­phy, and pur­pose.”

Act­ing Per­ma­nent Sec­re­tary in the Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs, Er­i­ca For­tune, al­so ad­dressed at­ten­dees, along­side Min­is­ter of Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries Ravi Rat­ti­ram, mem­bers of the diplo­mat­ic corps, and rep­re­sen­ta­tives from T&T’s cor­po­rate sec­tor.

The ACS was es­tab­lished on Ju­ly 24, 1994, with the sign­ing of the Con­ven­tion Es­tab­lish­ing the As­so­ci­a­tion of Caribbean States in Carta­ge­na de In­dias, Colom­bia. The or­gan­i­sa­tion serves as a plat­form for con­sul­ta­tion, co­op­er­a­tion, and con­cert­ed ac­tion among 25 Mem­ber States, three As­so­ciate Mem­bers, and eight el­i­gi­ble non-in­de­pen­dent Caribbean ter­ri­to­ries.