"China has been a very good and reliable partner for the Global South countries, including Grenada and other countries in the Caribbean," said Grenada's Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Andall.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between China and Caribbean countries has contributed to the development and common prosperity of the region, Caribbean officials have said.
"China has played a role in empowering us to strengthen sustainable, self-sufficient, and resilient regional food security and farming in Barbados," Chief of Staff of the Barbados Defence Force Carlos Lovell told Xinhua on the sidelines of the 48th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
China's contribution, he said, has also offered the region a chance "to take advantage of available technology to enhance sustainability from a food security perspective."
Latrae Rahming, director of Communications at the Office of the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, stressed that CARICOM and China have had a robust relationship for years in various areas such as education, health and infrastructure building.
"The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for the region has been instrumental in the economic development of participating countries, and most Caribbean countries recognize and support it because they have benefited from it in many ways," said the official.
Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda's prime minister, whose country was among the first in the region to join the BRI, stressed China's support for the construction of a new terminal at V.C. Bird International Airport in the country's capital.
Browne said that China has been important in helping Antigua and Barbuda build socio-economic infrastructure, offering extensive support in health, sports, scholarships and sustainable development.
Grenada's Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell recently paid an official visit to China to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and he considered it a fruitful and pleasant tour, said the island's Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Andall.
"China has been a very good and reliable partner for the Global South countries, including Grenada and other countries in the Caribbean," Andall said, "we value our relationship with China because it is based on mutual respect and I believe it is something that we should all continue and deepen."
Political scientist Jaime Tamayo from the University of Guadalajara in Mexico said in contrast to neocolonial powers whose policy for the region seek to subordinate the nations of the Caribbean, China provides trade and investment opportunities without "imposing political conditions or interfering in domestic affairs," making it a vital partner for Caribbean development, said the expert. ■