CARICOM Heads of Government and regional private sector leaders have agreed on a series of concrete, time-bound measures to address the Caribbean's growing affordability crisis, according to Antigua News Room. The commitments emerged from the second High-Level Breakfast Dialogue held at Sandals Grande, Saint Lucia, on July 6th, 2026, on the margins of the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.
The dialogue, convened under the theme "Meeting the Affordability Challenge: Toward a Proactive Agenda for Member States and the Private Sector," brought together more than 120 senior private sector representatives with Heads of Government from thirteen member states. Development finance partners — including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF) — as well as the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and other regional institutions also participated.
Discussions centred on practical measures to improve affordability across the region, including removing barriers to intra-regional trade, reducing transportation and logistics costs, diversifying imports, mobilising regional investment capital, strengthening tourism linkages, and addressing the disproportionate negative impacts of the International Maritime Organization's Net-Zero Framework on CARICOM Small Island Developing States. Participants agreed that regional governments, the private sector, and organised labour must move from policy dialogue to coordinated implementation, underpinned by clear mandates, timelines, and measurable outcomes.
Regional transport dominated the morning session. As reported by Antigua News Room, participants agreed on a September 2026 deadline for the creation of an enabling regulatory framework for the mutual recognition of insurance, licences, and road taxes — a prerequisite for launching a private-sector-operated regional ferry service. In the interim, Heads of Government agreed to pursue an earlier pilot ferry initiative using a vessel that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has expressed willingness to deploy. The session also welcomed the commencement of operations by Executive Air Cargo, which has begun transporting agri-food products between member states.
On non-tariff barriers, the session adopted a 'pairwise' model of direct bilateral engagement between the member states imposing the 57 non-tariff barriers identified by the private sector as suppressing intra-regional trade and those adversely affected by them. The model will be led by a designated Lead Head of Government, with private sector participation and time-bound remedial commitments from all relevant parties.
The meeting also examined technical work on import diversification, noting that the region stands to realise savings of approximately USD 2.0 billion from diversifying a portion of its non-fuel imports alone. Additional savings from reduced fuel imports, as the region transitions to renewable energy, were also recognised. The CARICOM Private Sector Organisation (CPSO) was urged to prioritise further analysis of the fuel import and energy transition relationship.
On short-term cost-of-living relief, Barbadian Prime Minister Mottley called explicitly for a formal tripartite compact among governments, the private sector, and organised labour covering a basket of essential products. She also called on the private sector to accept lower profit margins on essential goods in order to ease the financial burden on CARICOM citizens.
Turning to capital mobilisation, the session endorsed the urgent need to connect surplus liquidity held by regional financial institutions with strategic investment opportunities in areas such as desalination, battery storage, solar, wind, and geothermal energy, as well as port infrastructure. A common regional platform for publishing these investment opportunities was endorsed as a necessary first step, with agricultural investment opportunities to be highlighted and a compendium of CARICOM-wide agricultural investments requested for presentation at the next High-Level Breakfast Forum.
The session also renewed its commitment to completing the Tourism Linkages Project — mandated by the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government — aimed at deepening connections between the tourism sector and regional agriculture, manufacturing, and services.
On climate and maritime policy, the regional private sector reaffirmed its commitment to decarbonisation and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, participants expressed broad support for a cautious regional approach to the IMO Net-Zero Framework, citing its disproportionate negative impacts on small island developing states, consumers, and the tourism industry, particularly the cruise sector. The CPSO's import-diversification work was also extended to quantify economic benefits associated with the renewable energy transition, with an update to be presented to the next Meeting of the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP).
To ensure accountability, the session agreed to establish working groups with predefined timelines and measurable deliverables. The CPSO will work closely with the CSME Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee to monitor implementation.
In closing remarks, CPSO Chairman Gervase Warner thanked Heads of Government and private sector representatives for their engagement, stating that the groundwork had been laid for sustained collaboration among all parties. He committed the CPSO to following up on the delivery of the agreed work programme.
