The two-day inaugural meeting of the United States-Caribbean Resilience Partnership working group gets underway on Wednesday as Washington announced it is providing US$1.5 million to increase disaster preparedness and resilience under the Partnership.
Washington said that under the U.S.-Caribbean 2020, it is committed to advancing security, diplomacy, prosperity, energy, education, and health in the Caribbean.
This partnership aims to strengthen U.S.-Caribbean cooperation and advance greater resilience to withstand the impacts of climate change, natural disasters, and extreme weather events by leveraging American and Caribbean innovation and expertise,” according to a statement released here, adding that funding will support technical exchanges and consultations between U.S. interagency resilience experts, ministries, and disaster management officials from the Caribbean region.
The meeting this week will be attended by Deputy Assistant Secretary Cynthia Kierscht with USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator Barbara Feinstein and will bring together representatives from 18 Caribbean countries, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), the Regional Security System (RSS), international donors, and non-governmental partners, including universities and the private sector.
The working group will assess disaster resilience needs and proposed next steps to better coordinate efforts and the meeting here builds on the inaugural meeting of the partnership, which took place in April.
