September 28, 2018 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs): In an important meeting on Thursday 27th September, 2018, CARICOM Foreign Ministers met with Deputy Secretary of State, H.E. John Sullivan.

 The extensive exchange was geared around climate change and disaster risk reduction, financial and banking services, security, migration and education amongst other issues.

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Mark Brantley, intervened on behalf of the group to present on the health matters in the region. In his brief remarks, Honourable Brantley highlighted the heavy economic burden of non-communicable diseases on our region, noting the alarming statistics on the high mortality rates attributed to NCDs. 
 
Minister Brantley also beckoned the call for a new paradigm of the criteria with which small, economic and environmentally vulnerable states, which have graduated to middle and high income status, should be eligible for development assistance.

The meeting ended with a dialogue on the avenues of how CARICOM and the US Government can advance their technical cooperation frameworks.