Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, stated on Monday that he expects “mature” negotiations to take place during the two-day European Union and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) meeting, which begins today in Belgium.
The EU-CELAC summit is the first in eight years, and Gonsalves, the pro tempore president of CELAC, told reporters before of the meeting that he expects the final communique will address the topic of reparation for slavery.
He told reporters outside the summit venue that he had previously spoken with EU Council President Charles Michel “to see how we could finalize some issues in the declaration.”
Climate change, poverty, food security, reform of the global financial architecture, digital transition, and improved multi-literalism are among the concerns Gonsalves would like to have explored.
“I am hopeful that a paragraph in the declaration will address the historical legacies of native genocide and enslavement of African bodies, as well as something toward reparative justice.”
“This is a topic on which we need to have a mature discussion.” In the case of the English-speaking Caribbean countries, which are among the most populous in Europe, they are not members of the European Union…”Prince Charles, before he became King Charles, said at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting last year in Rwanda that the time has come for a mature conversation on the subject,” Gonsalves added.
“Some countries have issued apologies, most recently the King of the Netherlands.” The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has proposed a 10-point reparative justice strategy…This is not a strategy for individual people to earn money; rather, it is a plan for numerous concerns concerning debt relief, social and inclusive issues in education and health (as well as) some cultural difficulties.”
According to Gonsalves, the Caribbean intends to collaborate with Europe “on those matters to repair the historical legacies of underdevelopment resulting from native genocide and enslavement of African bodies.”
According to Gonsalves, reaching a consensus on the topic would serve as a “basis for intelligent mature discussion.”
“You and I both know it is a discussion whose time has now come,” he told the media.
