BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, August 15, 2021 — Dr. Carla Barnett, a Belizean national who took office on Monday 16th August as CARICOM’s 8th Secretary General, has been congratulated by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas. Dr. Barnett’s appointment is historic — she is the first female to hold the position — and was unanimous. “Your appointment is opportune, especially as the region battles with the current pandemic and its deleterious impact on the peoples and fragile economies of member states. None will question your dedication to steer the regional organ into a new dispensation of regionalism in the face of myriad global challenges,” said Dr. Douglas. “Devising the requisite innovative measures to embark on alternative pathways to socio-economic recovery of the member states will no doubt be among your major priorities,” he noted.
In a separate letter to outgoing Secretary General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, with whom Dr. Douglas served as CARICOM Chairman when LaRocque took office in 2011, Douglas placed on record his appreciation for LaRocque’s “sterling contribution to the Caribbean Community.” “The strides that have been made to date in the integration process in large measure can be deemed a proud legacy of your tenure. We would agree that the last decade has not been without its myriad challenges, ranging from natural disasters to sustaining our competitiveness under the recent global health pandemic that has decimated human lives and livelihoods in all member states. You have laid the groundwork on which your successor can build with strategic partnership and cooperation,” Dr. Douglas wrote.