Business View Caribbean | Volume 9, Issue 3

10 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN VOLUME 9, ISSUE 3 The Secretary-General noted that the Community over the 49 years of its existence has been bound together, particularly, in times of adversity and this was such a time contending with the worst economic recession in modern history. To foster our recovery, he said the Community needed to rekindle the founding vision of CARICOM both with respect to the scale of its ambition for integration, and the speed which was needed to achieve its consolidation. Our recovery, he said should be aligned to a new regional agenda that was centred around creating prosperity for the people. COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON THE REGION Heads of Government acknowledged continued comprehensive response to COVID-19 in the Region by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the CARICOM Secretariat and the Pan- American Health Organisation. They agreed that Member States would continue to support the multi-sectoral and inter-sectoral regional public health response that has been successfully led by CARPHA supported by the Regional Security System (RSS) and other Regional Institutions. They also acknowledged that the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has required that Member States re-imagine their development strategies and global economic engagement towards building back better with more sustainable and resilient economies. In that regard they mandated the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), to coordinate the formulation of a regional resource mobilisation strategy to raise the funding required to drive the economic recovery programme. rocks of the obstinate and selfish attitudes of developed countries and large corporations assembled at COP26 in Glasgow, last November. The Chair of the Conference, Prime Minister of Belize stated that the Thirty-Third Inter- Sessional Meeting was a particularly consequential meeting which was taking place at a time when unprecedented and existential challenges coincided with our citizens’ expectations for relief and prosperity. He condemned in the strongest terms the unjustified invasion of Ukraine by Russia and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and immediate and unilateral withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine. The Prime Minister observed that CARICOM was