Caribbean Development Bank supports regional security system maritime security project – Firstlook

Caribbean countries need to strengthen maritime security to protect citizens and unlock the potential of the blue economy.
The suggestion came from Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) Vice President (Operations) Monica La Bennett on Friday, April 5, 2019, when the Bank signed a $335,000 grant agreement with the Regional Security System (RSS) to finance the development of a regional maritime security strategy.
“At the CDB, we believe in a more regional approach to our development challenges… We believe this project demonstrates the bank’s unwavering commitment to promoting regional cooperation and integration, which is in line with our mission,” La Bennett said.
She was speaking at the RSS Council of Ministers meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where the project was launched.
The Bank’s financing will support the development of national maritime strategies in each of the RSS member countries (Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines). The project will also develop an overall regional maritime security strategy and implementation plan that will incorporate the needs of individual national plans, as well as capacity building and training of relevant stakeholder institutions.
Chairman of the RSS Council of Ministers, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, welcomed the CDB’s intervention and noted that the security challenges facing the RSS and its member states are constantly evolving and complex, stating:
“The challenges are very different – ​​terrorism, migration issues, human trafficking, arms trafficking and drug issues, as well as issues caused by severe climate change.”
RSS Executive Director Captain Ellington Shuland also stressed the uniqueness of the challenges facing the region in the maritime security sector, which underscores the need for the project.
“…the maritime area of ​​responsibility (in the RSS sub-region) is 128 times larger than the land area. The ocean is the lifeline of the region and is key to economic development. The maritime space is also where most threats originate. The porous nature of our borders, coupled with limited capacity to conduct maritime domain awareness operations and a lack of maritime and port security awareness among some key stakeholders, means this is a significant weakness,” he said.
The project will also include an analysis of maritime threats and a review of member states’ domestic legislation to determine if there are discrepancies between regional and international obligations under international maritime conventions and protocols.
Rabennett noted that “maritime security is not just about law enforcement and governance,” and pointed out its economic impact.
“Importantly, the waters within our shared maritime domain facilitate over 90 percent of the movement of goods within the sub-region. There is further evidence of an intrinsic link between maritime security and economic development in the Eastern Caribbean, where commercial shipping, cruise tourism, fisheries and other maritime activities are major economic activities. Maritime security can therefore be considered an important enabler of the blue economy as it protects navigation routes and safeguards the rights of valuable marine resources and activities,” she added.
The project is being carried out in collaboration with the Organization of American States and the International Maritime Organization.