The Tribune

CARICOM is awaiting a decision from the United Nations Security Council before taking a position on whether member states should impose sanctions on Russia, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said yesterday.

Mr Davis spoke from Belize, where he is attending CARICOM meetings.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing war were brought up yesterday at the sessions.

“The issue of Russia and Ukraine, as I mentioned earlier when I embarked to come to these meetings, I knew it would loom large in our deliberations and dialogue,” Mr Davis said in an interview with press secretary Clint Watson.

“We today issued a very strong statement in support of the UN charter that protects and preserves a country’s territorial integrity and their sovereignty. And in that regard, flowing from that, is the question of sanctions (being) imposed by CARICOM states.

“The general consensus is that until the UN Security Council will pass a resolution to confirm that member states ought to impose sanctions, we have decided to just sit back and wait to abide (by) the outcome of such resolution.”

He also said: “A number of countries have indicated that overtures have been made to them in respect to sanctions, that’s why the question came (as) to what we will do as a collective body and came down on the side of awaiting and abiding the decision of the UN Security Council.”

Mr Davis said talks were also held on climate change at CARICOM meetings.

“We discussed the issue. We are going to remain engaged in dialogue and we are going to make sure that our voices are heard in the right places.”

Regional leaders discussed accessing funding for mitigation and adaptation, and the challenges in obtaining these funds, he said.