On July 6, 2026, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) kicked off the first working day of its four-day annual leadership summit with a closed-door retreat in Castries, Saint Lucia, gathering regional heads of government to confront the most pressing issues threatening the Caribbean’s long-term stability and development.
Against a backdrop of growing interconnected challenges across the bloc, leaders gathered off the public record to work through a packed policy agenda that touches every core pillar of regional welfare. The discussion topics range from transnational regional security threats and persistent macroeconomic headwinds to the urgent need to strengthen collective climate resilience. Leaders also turned their attention to deepening integration and coordination across all 15 CARICOM member states, aiming to align policy approaches to shared challenges that no single nation can address effectively on its own.
This retreat, a traditional opening component of CARICOM’s annual leadership summit, is designed to allow heads of government to hold open, frank discussions without public scrutiny, laying the groundwork for formal agreements and joint action plans that will be finalized over the remaining three days of the summit. Local correspondent Peter Richards is on the ground in Saint Lucia covering the event for the broadcasting outlet that released this transcript.
Notably, the outlet has confirmed this article is an exact written transcript of its primetime television newscast carried on the same day, and it notes that all quoted Kriol language remarks from speakers have been transcribed using a standardized spelling system for accessibility and accuracy. Readers and viewers can access the full video recording of the newscast via the link provided on the original publication.