St Lucia PM says cooperation can help region through challenges

St Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre wants to see Barbados and other Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nations working together to get through the increasing economic pressures, rising cost of living, and other ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

At the same time, he called for patience from citizens as their leaders seek out ways to give them relief.

“In the region, we have to work with each other; we all have to learn from each other. All of us have our strengths and our weaknesses but together this CARICOM region can be one of the best places in the world if we work,” said Pierre, who made a surprise appearance at Thursday’s St George Speaks town hall meeting where he joined Prime Minister Mia Mottley.

He pointed out that the Caribbean was going through a testing period, over which governments had no direct control.

“It’s one of the most difficult times to run any country, and these problems are not for Barbados, for St Lucia, for Jamaica, or for Guyana; they are worldwide and global problems,” Pierre said.

“And the issue is that we have nothing to do with it. We have never fired one shot in Ukraine, we have no issues with anybody, but they do things in their countries and we pay for it…. The issues that you have, the cost of living, the price of fuel, the ability to get goods from outside because of the supply issue, have nothing to do with us.”

The St Lucia Prime Minister urged citizens to give their leaders time to find ways to cushion the blow of the difficulties which their countries faced.

One of the solutions, he suggested, was enhancing food security in the region.

“We need to be patient and we need to do what we can do, and what we can do is to grow our little crops at our homes; we need to feed ourselves – little things we can do till we pass through these problems,” Pierre said.