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By: Janelle Charles  CARICOM’s future relationship
with South Africa will be mapped out when regional Prime Ministers and South African
President Nelson Mandela meet during the 19th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference.
Their discussions next month follows a familiarization tour of a 76-member CARICOM delegation to South Africa last January. Since then CARICOM and South Africa have agreed to establish mutual diplomatic missions, and are looking to develop air transportation links between the two regions. The regional Private sector and the University of the West Indies are interested in
providing badly needed assistance to South African’s Black Business community
especially in the legal, tourism and construction areas. By assisting South Africa in its process of transformation CARICOM’s external relations record will receive a tremendous boost. CARICOM Secretary General, Edwin Carrington says "We have just begun to explore the scope of close relationship between that country of 41 million and our region. We expect that when President Mandela is here we'll have some more discussions with him, specifically on CARICOM/South Africa cooperation." The arrival of
the ANC leader in St. Lucia on July 2nd to participate the in the 25th anniversary meeting
of CARICOM is being viewed as a major accomplishment and a momentous occasion.
CARICOM had extended a similar invitation to Nelson Mandela in 1975, which he was unable to accept. Foreign Affairs Minister,George Odlum - "So when it's the 25th anniversary of CARICOM, we could be fortunate enough to have such a presence, it is needed and there is a kind of poetic justice to it. The CARICOM has really been at the forefront of the apartheid struggle." Over the last few years the charismatic Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela has captured the admiration and imagination of millions worldwide.President Mandela is no stranger to adversity. A central figure in South Africa’s struggle against white minority rule, a political prisoner for 27 year under an apartheid regime who later shared a noble prize for peace with F.W. De Klerk after his release from prison, Nelson Mandela has many words of wisdom to share. So Mandela’s counsel to regional leaders as they prepare to draft CARICOM’s programme of action for the next decade can therefore prove be very useful.
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