News Americas, NEW YORK, NY., Tues. Dec. 10, 2019: A Caribbean leader attending the 9th Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP), group of nations summit in Nairobi, Kenya, is calling for a total war on corruption.
Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, who is attending the summit from the CARICOM region along with Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Ammor Mottley, said corruption was a big impediment in the economic take-off of ACP countries.
The prime minister said that if governments understood their role as facilitators of business, while curbing corruption, ACP nations could be leaders in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Jamaica ranks 70th on the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International while host nation Kenya is ranked at 144th. Barbados is at 25th.
PM Holness also challenged ACP nations to encourage more people-to-people engagements so as to create linkages and an atmosphere of trust needed to spur trade and cross-border investments in his opening remarks during the ACP Summit Presidential Dialogue in the Kenyan capital.
And Holness urged Africa and the Caribbean to go beyond the cultural and sporting ties already established and to explore new frontiers in business.
Meanwhile, PM Mottley called on ACP member countries to tap into the potential of local investments by managing migration and creating a strong sense of local ownership.
