The United States partners with Caribbean governments in defense of our shared values, and to improve Caribbean resilience in all aspects – economy, security, and democracy – so that the people of the Caribbean and the United States enjoy prosperity, health, and freedom.
Food Security
- The U.S. Government is providing the Caribbean with $28 million in assistance to address urgent food security needs.
- USAID deployed five technical experts to the Caribbean region who advise on efficient use of fertilizer, biofertilizer production, nutrient management, and crop insurance feasibility, and are developing an operational logistics and supply chain model to streamline intraregional trade.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted a series of customized capacity building training sessions to promote pesticide management and strengthen food security. USAID launched the two-year, $2.7 million Resilient Agriculture Activity (RAA) in the Dominican Republic to directly address the spike in food prices, crude oil and commodities—including fertilizers and other common agricultural inputs—due to supply chain disruptions resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. RAA will focus on soil fertility and fertilizer best practices, other climate-smart agriculture practices and local, organic fertilizer production.
- USAID, in coordination with CARICOM, is designing an integrated food security activity that will increase farmer adoption of climate-smart technologies, improve smallholder fruit and vegetable production, build capacity of SMEs in agro-processing, increase technical knowledge among extensionists, and address sanitary and phytosanitary measures limiting open trade.
- The United States, CARICOM, and the Dominican Republic developed medium- and long-term action plans that will guide ongoing efforts to enhance food security in the region.
- Understanding the need for reliable, cost-effective energy solutions, in January 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued Trinidad and Tobago a specific license to allow them to develop the Dragon gas field, located in Venezuelan maritime territory, paving the way for LNG from this eventual project to benefit the entire Caribbean.
- Under the U.S.-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030 (PACC 2030) the United States is working with Caribbean nations to develop wide-ranging, long-term energy security and climate resilience solutions. For more information, please see the separate fact sheet on PACC 2030.
- We congratulate those CARICOM member countries that have joined 150 countries in endorsing the Global Methane Pledge, and we are committed to working together to meet our collective goal to reduce global methane emissions 30 percent by 2030 – the single most effective strategy to limit warming in the near term. We look forward to supporting national country planning and related methane reduction policy and project efforts, particularly in the waste sector.
- In January 2023, USAID announced its intention to partner with the Government of Barbados with funding to support the establishment of the Blue Green Investment Corporation, a regional financing vehicle to finance projects that will help with climate change mitigation and adaptation, including resilient housing, renewable energy, green transportation, and water conservation.
- The United States supported flexibility in the IMF’s allocation of the Resilience Sustainability Trust, under which the IMF approved significant financing for Barbados’ future investments in climate resilience.
- For more information, please see the PACC 2030 Fact Sheet.
- Vice President Harris welcomed six Caribbean heads of state at the White House.
- Senior leaders from the Department of State led strategic dialogues with Caribbean countries and multilateral meetings on the margins of the UN General Assembly.
- Two interagency scoping missions, comprised of officials from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency traveled to the region under the auspices of PACC 2030.
- Senior leaders from the U.S. Development Finance Corporation and US Agency for International Development traveled to the region in January 2023.
- The United States sent a high-level delegation to the February 2023 CARICOM Intersessional, including Assistant Secretary Brian Nichols, former Secretary of State and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, former Senator and Special Presidential Advisor Chris Dodd, and EXIM Chairwoman Reta Jo Lewis.
- Vice President Harris met with six Caribbean heads of state at the White House since the Summit of the Americas.
- Two Under Secretaries of State led strategic dialogues with Caribbean countries.
- Two interagency scoping missions traveled to the region under the auspices of PACC 2030.
- U.S. Development Finance Corporation Chief Operating Officer traveled to the region in January 2023.
- U.S. Delegation to the CARICOM Intersessional includes Assistant Secretary Brian Nichols, former Secretary of State and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, former Senator and Special Presidential Advisor Chris Dodd, and EXIM Chairwoman Reta Jo Lewis.
- Two interagency scoping missions, comprised of officials from the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Trade and Development Agency traveled to the region under the auspices of PACC 2030.
- In Fiscal Year 2022, the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) provided more than $6 million in assistance to address multi-sectoral humanitarian needs in the Caribbean through the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), International Organization for Migration, and the UN Children’s Fund. In addition, PRM provided more than $7 million in assistance to NGO partners assisting Venezuelans in the Southern Caribbean. PRM also provided more than $19 million through UNHCR and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) with the flexibility to use the funds where they were needed most in the hemisphere, including in the Caribbean.
