PM Modi and PM Pierre discuss ways to enhance India-St Lucia ties

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held discussions with the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Philip Pierre on the sidelines of the second India-CARICOM Summit held in Guyana.

As per the statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, the two world leaders held “productive discussions on 20 November”.

The leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in a range of issues such as capacity building, education, health, renewable energy, cricket and yoga.

In his post on X, PM Modi said that deliberations took place to boost trade linkages and enhance ties in sectors such as healthcare, pharma and energy.

PM Pierre appreciated Prime Minister Modi’s seven-point plan to strengthen the India- CARICOM partnership.

During the summit, PM Modi explained the framework, “In the future, to strengthen our ties, I want to make a statement, it is based on 7 key pillars. These 7 pillars are ‘CARICOM’. C stands for capacity building, through scholarship, training and technique, India has been helping in the capacity building of CARICOM countries, for the next 5 years, we will add 1,000 slots to the ITEC scholarship… for CARICOM, and we will work to make forensic centres… with CARICOM friends, India is ready to work in parliamentary training also.”

“A stands for Agriculture and Food Security,” after which he went on to emphasise the need for cooperation in Renewable Energy and Climate Change (R), Innovation, Technology and Trade (I), Cricket and Culture (C), Ocean Economy and Maritime Security (O), and Medicine and Healthcare (M). Each of these pillars represents a key area where India aims to contribute to the development of CARICOM nations”, the PM had said.

The meeting between the two leaders comes on the heels of the recent interaction between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Alva Baptiste, the Foreign Minister of St Lucia at UNGA 79 in New York in September this year.