Speech by Commissioner Urpilainen at the EU-Caribbean partnership event to celebrate the Caribbean Protocole of the Samoa Agreement

EU-Caribbean partnership event in Antigua

Your Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

I am delighted to be back in the Caribbean.

When the plane approached Antigua yesterday, the beautiful view of the island gave me a snapshot of why we are here today, and all we hope to achieve.

As our world faces several crises, we seek to protect what is most important: people and planet. And a future that enables everyone to live in prosperity.

As the crises have shown how interconnected we are, I am convinced that the EU and the Caribbean can achieve this together.

Today, I have three messages to start our discussion.

First, the EU remains committed to deepening ties with the Caribbean.

In 2022, we launched in Barbados three EU-Caribbean partnerships:

• on the Green Deal;
• on Economic Resilience;
• and on Human Development.

A meeting of EU-Caribbean Foreign Affairs Ministers in Panama boosted political ties.

This lead, in 2023, to the EU-Caribbean Leaders' Meeting in Brussels, which was part of the EU-CELAC Summit.

And just a few days ago, a Memorandum of Understanding on disaster preparedness and risk management between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean was signed.

Our partnership grows stronger by the day. As we agreed at the EU-CELAC Summit last year, we are natural partners and we must become partners of choice. And today takes us a step further.

This brings me to my second point.

This is a day of celebration of our partnership under the Caribbean Protocole of the new Samoa Agreement.

It provides a framework for the cooperation between 27 EU Member States and 79 countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States.

We represent over 1.5 billion people. If we stand united, we will be hard to ignore in multilateral fora.

The Samoa Agreement fosters progress on the Sustainable Development Goals by enhancing cooperation at the national, regional, and international levels.

I would like to thank the many Caribbean countries who have already signed the Agreement.

I look forward to starting to implement the Caribbean Protocol as it will deepen and tailor our partnership.

The roadmap that we are presenting today is a good basis for the way forward.

Finally, to achieve the goals of the Samoa Agreement, we will continue to roll out the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda.

Global Gateway is the EU's positive offer translating commitment to sustainable development into actions.

We have over 130 projects aimed at advancing the green, digital, and fair triple transition in Latin America and the Caribbean.

I am proud to say that good projects are advancing in the Caribbean region.

For example, we are working to find a way to turn the sargassum algae from a threat to an economic opportunity.

We are exploring ways to harness the potential of natural resources like wind and solar energy to produce green hydrogen.

And we are supporting digitalisation and last kilomenter connectivity as well as local development and manufacturing of life-saving medicines.

These are just a few examples of Global Gateway in the Caribbean.

One of the novelties of Global Gateway is that to mobilise the level of investment needed to make a difference, we are bringing together public and private finance.

For this reason, I am very happy to have successful, and visionary European companies here in the room with us.

Through an open and honest exchange, I hope we can identify obstacles and opportunities for increased European investments in the Caribbean.

Dear Friends,

In this period of so much geopolitical tension and instability, I believe the EU-Caribbean partnership is a beacon of hope.

We may be separated by thousands of kilometres. Yet we are united by a common vision.

Let's work together to implement the Samoa Agreement's ambitious goals, for the sustainable development of our regions and of our people.