CARICOM Secretariat | Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana: “This moment calls for strategic thinking and regional solidarity. The decisions we take now will determine not only how CARICOM navigates this crisis, but how prepared we are for future global disruptions. Resilience, cooperation, and shared responsibility must guide our response.”
Dr. Wendell Samuel, Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) of CARICOM, made this call to action during a virtual dialogue held on April 10th, 2026. The panel discussion, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, examined the impact of the ongoing Middle East conflict on Latin American and Caribbean states, with particular focus on food security, agriculture, and macroeconomic stability.
Dr. Samuel, who oversees the Economic Integration, Innovation and Development Directorate at the CARICOM Secretariat, revealed that the Community has developed a draft response matrix aimed at mitigating the anticipated fallout from the conflict, particularly its implications for food security. The matrix will be presented to regional Ministers of Agriculture for consideration, adoption, and implementation.
Designed as a comprehensive policy framework, the matrix links external shocks to policy responses, ensuring a holistic approach; identifies the sequencing and targeting of interventions; proposes short-term stabilisation measures alongside long-term reforms to strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability; and promotes coordinated regional action.
Highlighting priority areas, Dr. Samuel noted that regional efforts should focus on strengthening coordination in procurement, logistics, and strategic reserves; accelerating investment in renewable energy and resilient food systems; enhancing policy alignment for swift, collective responses to external shocks; and reinforcing regional institutions responsible for food security and economic surveillance.
“While the Region is geographically distant from the conflict, our economies remain highly exposed to global shocks transmitted through energy markets, food systems, and international supply chains,” Dr. Samuel pointed out.
He further higlighted the Region’s structural vulnerabilities, including its heavy dependence on imports of food, fuel, fertilisers, and shipping services, factors that can quickly translate external geopolitical tensions into domestic economic challenges.
Dr. Samuel warned that inflation, food affordability, and fiscal stability are not abstract risks, but immediate public policy concerns and stressed the importance of understanding how these impacts are transmitted, and advancing practical, coordinated regional responses.
