On July 6, 2026, against the backdrop of the 51st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Head of Government of the Caribbean Community, the second High-Level Breakfast Dialogue brought together a diverse cross-section of regional stakeholders at Sandals Grande in St. Lucia. Hosted jointly by the OECS Business Council (OBC) and the Caricom Private Sector Organisation (CPSO), the gathering centered on the urgent theme of ‘Meeting the Affordability Challenge: Toward a Proactive Agenda for Member States and the Private Sector’, drawing more than 120 senior participants ranging from 13 Caricom Heads of Government and private sector leaders to representatives of the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL), major development finance institutions including the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and Caricom Development Fund (CDF), and other key regional bodies.
Against a backdrop of soaring cost-of-living pressures that have strained households across every Caricom member state, participants delved into targeted, actionable strategies to boost economic affordability. Discussion topics centered on removing systemic barriers to intra-regional trade, cutting bloated transportation and logistics costs, expanding import diversification, unlocking regional investment capital, strengthening interconnectedness between tourism and local sectors, and addressing the lopsided harm that the International Maritime Organisation’s Net-Zero Framework (NZF) threatens to inflict on Caricom’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS). By the close of discussions, a robust consensus emerged: regional governments, the private sector, and organized labor must transition beyond rhetorical policy dialogue to coordinated, tangible implementation, anchored by clear mandates, firm timelines, and measurable outcomes.
The most urgent priority to emerge from morning deliberations was addressing the region’s crippling transport capacity gap, a longstanding barrier to fulfilling the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) commitment to free movement of people and goods. Attendees agreed to a September 2026 deadline for finalizing a regulatory framework that enables mutual recognition of insurance, operator licenses, and road taxes — a critical precondition for launching a private-sector operated regional ferry service. To accelerate progress, Heads of Government approved an early pilot ferry initiative that will leverage a vessel the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has volunteered to deploy for the launch. The dialogue also marked a positive milestone with delegates expressing approval for the recent launch of Executive Air Cargo’s service, which now transports agri-food products between member states.
Turning to barriers within the region’s direct control, delegates adopted a new ‘pairwise’ engagement model to resolve 57 non-tariff barriers (NTBs) that the private sector has identified as major drags on intra-regional trade. Under the model, a Lead Head of Government will oversee direct negotiations between the member state that implemented a given NTB and the member states negatively impacted by it, with active participation from the private sector and relevant regulatory and ministerial bodies. Both implementing and affected states will be bound to time-bound corrective action plans.
A technical presentation at the dialogue laid out the enormous economic benefits of import diversification and risk reduction for the region, highlighting that diversifying just one segment of non-fuel imports could deliver an estimated $2 billion USD in annual savings. Even greater savings are projected as the region transitions to renewable energy and cuts reliance on costly imported fuel. Delegates called on the CPSO to prioritize additional analysis on the intersection of fuel imports and the renewable energy transition as an immediate next step.
In discussions focused on short-term relief for strained households, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley issued a clear call for a formal tripartite compact bringing together governments, the private sector, and organized labor to address prices for a core basket of essential goods. She also urged the private sector to accept reduced profit margins on essential products to ease cost-of-living burdens for Caricom citizens. Attendees agreed to hold further inclusive discussions to develop concrete proposals for this compact.
Shifting focus from cost relief to capital mobilization, the dialogue endorsed the urgent need to connect surplus liquidity held by regional financial institutions to high-priority strategic investment opportunities across the region. Key target sectors include desalination, battery storage, solar, wind, and geothermal power generation, and port infrastructure upgrades. Recognizing that most Caricom citizens are unaware of these investment opportunities, delegates agreed that publishing all opportunities on a shared regional platform is a critical first step to unlock capital. Agricultural investment opportunities were singled out for prioritized listing, and delegates requested that a full compendium of Caricom-wide agricultural investment opportunities be presented at the next High-Level Breakfast Forum.
Aligning with the goal of building robust regional value chains, delegates reaffirmed their commitment to completing the Tourism Linkages Project, first mandated at the 48th Regular Meeting of Caricom Heads of Government. The project aims to deepen ties between the region’s dominant tourism sector and local agriculture, manufacturing, and service industries, keeping more tourism revenue within regional economies.
Closing out the substantive policy agenda, the regional private sector reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to climate action, decarbonization, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction as core pillars of sustainable development for Caricom SIDS. At the same time, delegates broadly supported a cautious, measured approach to implementing the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, which imposes penalties on shipping lines that do not transition their fleets to net-zero carbon fuels. Participants emphasized that the framework would have disproportionate negative impacts on SIDS, consumer prices, and the regional tourism industry, particularly the cruise sector. They also approved expanding the CPSO’s ongoing import diversification work to quantify potential import savings and broader economic benefits linked to the renewable energy transition, with an update scheduled for the next Meeting of the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP).
To ensure commitments made at the dialogue translate into action, participants agreed to establish dedicated working groups with predefined timelines and measurable deliverables. This structure will enable consistent monitoring and accountability for all outcomes agreed at the meeting. The CPSO will collaborate closely with the CSME Prime Ministerial Sub Committee to advance this implementation framework.
The dialogue closed with a shared, collective resolve that the region’s affordability challenge can only be solved through practical, time-bound, results-focused action, and that the longstanding partnership between governments, the private sector, and organized labor remains central to delivering tangible, improved outcomes for all Caricom citizens. In closing remarks, CPSO Chairman Gervase Warner thanked Heads of Government and private sector representatives for their open, honest engagement and collaborative contributions, noting that the gathering has laid solid groundwork for continued cross-sector collaboration. Warner committed the CPSO to leading follow-through on the full work programme agreed during the dialogue.