CARICOM leaders have agreed in principle to establish a three-member team to begin developing a structured cooperation framework with the United States, following discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in St. Kitts and Nevis on Thursday.

CARICOM Chair and Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. Terrence Drew, confirmed the decision at the closing press conference, describing the arrangement as still in its early stages.

“We have agreed in principle, with respect to it, CARICOM would put together a team of three, who would then be the team to sit with the team from the United States of America to really flesh out what this framework would look like,” Drew said.

The composition of the three-member team had not been finalised at the time of the press conference. Drew indicated the team would be assembled quickly so that substantive discussions with Washington could begin.

Drew framed the envisioned framework as one that could advance beyond existing trade and cooperation arrangements between the US and the Caribbean. He referenced the Caribbean Basin Initiative, established under the Reagan administration, as a precedent, but said the intention was to build something more comprehensive. “We want to arrive at something even more advanced than that in terms of our cooperation to strengthen not only just the relationship between the United States of America and CARICOM or the Caribbean community, but also to strengthen trade and to see what benefits and so forth can be derived,” he said.

Secretary Rubio, who co-hosted the session with Drew, noted Washington’s objective of strengthening traditional relationships in the Western Hemisphere, citing shared opportunities and challenges between the US and CARICOM states.

Migration formed a significant part of the framework discussions. Drew said the talks went beyond the question of illegal entry and overstaying, pointing to the need for a coordinated approach to how Caribbean nationals move to and from the United States. “What should be a coordinated framework for migratory situations between the United States of America and the Caribbean? We want to sit and discuss that matter,” he said.

Prime Minister of Jamaica, Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, who is the outgoing CARICOM Chair, expanded on the migration dimension, pointing to the loss of skilled workers as a concern that any structured programme must address. “There is another dimension of migration that more and more countries in the Caribbean have to pay attention to, and that is the depletion of skills and talent, which are critical to the development of the region,” Holness said. He noted that existing farm work and hospitality programmes offered a partial model, but said the region needed broader arrangements that secured reciprocal benefits from the use of Caribbean labour abroad.

The meeting also drew questions about CARICOM’s cohesion in the face of differing national positions on US engagement, including separate bilateral meetings that Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are scheduled to hold with US President Donald Trump. Drew rejected the characterisation that such developments pointed to fragmentation within the bloc. “CARICOM does not have a homogeneous, I would say, or a single foreign policy. That is left up to sovereign states,” he said, adding that individual bilateral relationships did not fracture the organisation but could enrich it.

Holness offered a similar view, arguing that the capacity of CARICOM member states to hold a range of positions on geopolitical matters reflected the organisation’s sophistication rather than its weakness. “If strategically coordinated, can lead to the greater good and greater benefit of the organisation,” he said.