This content was published on 30 July 2024 – 20:28
St. George’s, 30 July (EFE).- Several Caribbean countries are still awaiting a response from the UK government to their request for London to support a ‘Marshall Plan’ to rebuild the islands devastated by Hurricane Beryl on 1 July.
“I have not yet received a formal response from them. There is a small amount that has been allocated to St. Vincent to help, but there are a lot of resources needed, much more for recovery and reconstruction,” said St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to reporters on Tuesday.
Gonsalves is one of the regional leaders attending the 47th regular meeting of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), ending Tuesday in Grenada.
The meeting, initially scheduled for 3-5 July, was postponed due to Hurricane Beryl, which caused deaths and massive destruction in Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Jamaica, all former British colonies.
The request for the ‘Marshall Plan’ was made formally in a letter addressed to the British Government, signed by the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne; Grenada’s Dickon Mitchell; and Gonsalves.
The countries involved are demanding cheaper loans, options for debt restructuring, improved access to subsidies for climate-related damages, and a large-scale programme to build green, resilient infrastructure.
On 5 July, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced a £500,000 package for Caribbean countries affected by Beryl, promising to prioritise the climate emergency.
British High Commissioner for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Scott Furssedonn-Wood said the new government needed more time to review the foreign issue. ”I’m sure we’ll be very interested in reading the letter and seeing what might be possible,” he said.
After the UK’s July general election, which saw the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer end 14 years of Conservative rule, Gonsalves wrote a congratulatory message to the new British prime minister. “I wrote to Prime Minister Starmer, of course, to congratulate him and raise the issue of aid, recovery and reconstruction,” Gonsalves said Tuesday.
The Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines said more than 4,000 homes in his country need to be rebuilt or repaired, requiring at least $124 million.
Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, whose country was severely impacted by Hurricane Maria in 2017, stressed Tuesday that “the Caribbean needs access to climate finance now.”
“We cannot go through the lengthy and bureaucratic process to access these funds,” Skerrit said, calling for a ”clearer economic and financial offer” for the Caribbean, akin to the Marshall Plan the US offered to rebuild war-devastated European countries.
EFE
es/mv/icn
