PARAMARIBO, Suriname – United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, Sunday sad that the annual CARICOM summit is taking place at “a moment of maximum peril” making reference to the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health systems and tourism, as well as on economic growth and foreign investment, now exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

PARAMARIBO, Suriname – St. Lucia Sunday urged regional countries to move swiftly to create a lasting reliable and affordable regional transportation infrastructure, warning that there can be no meaningful integration without free movement of people.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – CARICOM oil and gas producing countries have rejected efforts being made by the international community to get them to abandon investments in the hydrocarbon industry amid suggestions that it contributes to harmful climate change experiences.

WASHINGTON, DC – A new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) notes that a significant number of nationals in Latin America and the Caribbean are “moderately or severely food insecure.”

HAVANA, Cuba – The government of Belgium has donated 29 buses to Cuba, that will be used to reinforce public transportation here and to support cultural institutions.

NAIROBI, Kenya – Barbados Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Dr. Jerome Walcott, has officially opened the CARICOM diplomatic mission in Nairobi making it the first for the 15-member regional integration movement on the African continent.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Guyana has re-affirmed its commitment to an initiative by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) to reduce food insecurity in the Americas.

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua – Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, criticizing the trade embargo placed on Venezuela by the United States, is calling on CARICOM leaders to approach Caracas for assistance in dealing with the rising costs of energy products.

UNITED NATIONS – A senior United Nations official says Haiti must remain at the “forefront” of the international agenda amid the rapidly deteriorating security situation in the French-speaking CARICOM country.

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands – The board of governors of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) began its 52^md annual meeting here on Wednesday with an indication that the region’s premier financial institution intends to advance food and nutrition security, energy and water security as its “big initiatives for 2022” and beyond.

ROSEAU, Dominica – Trade officials Monday dismissed a video circulating on social media warning Dominicans to brace themselves for a scarcity of essential goods and services as a result of rising prices for petroleum products.

LOS ANGELES, CA  – Four CARICOM leaders on Friday joined their counterparts from Latin America, the United States and Canada in signing the Los Angeles Declaration on Migration and Protection.