WE regard as important the United States Government’s hosting of Monday’s Caribbean Energy Security Summit led by Vice-President Joseph Biden and attended by several prime ministers from the 16 countries of the region, including our own Mrs Portia Simpson Miller.

There were also useful discussions on climate change and mobilising investment for the energy sector involving a panoply of branches of the US Government, international financial institutions, notably the World Bank and from the Caribbean, in particular, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The United States finally reacted to the increased influence of Venezuela and China in the Caribbean.

The US shift from benign oversight to a more active engagement moved from drawing board to implementation following the visit of President Xi Jinping of China to Trinidad in June 2013. Mr Biden visited the Caribbean region in May 2013 and realised that, during the last decade, it had become dependent on subsidised oil from Venezuela and development aid from China. The US was content to have Venezuela and China share the permanent burden of bailing out the failed economies of the Caribbean but US action has now been galvanised by the possible downsizing of PetroCaribe.

President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly assured the governments of the Caribbean which benefit from the PetroCaribe that Venezuela has no intention of terminating the facility. Indeed, earlier this month he described the significance of PetroCaribe as a “guarantee of peace, stability, mutual benefit, shared development, and fair commerce shared by the entire Caribbean”.

However, despite the reiterations of Venezuela’s commitment to maintain PetroCaribe, there have been persistent rumours and continuing speculation that the parlous state of the Venezuelan economy, compounded by the collapse of oil prices, could force a cutback or less generous terms. A prolonged collapse of oil prices could sink an economy already in a deep recession or Caracas could be forced to commit its exports to China to meet its debt obligations.

The US, while understanding that China’s growing presence in the Caribbean region is in no way contesting US suzerainty, nor is it part of their global geo-political jousting, recognises the potential erosion of US economic prominence and political influence. America is also aware that there is no guarantee that China and Taiwan will continue to pour aid into the Caribbean at the same level as they have done during the last decade. This is something the Caribbean too needs to realise.

The Caribbean Energy Security Initiative represents a welcome, albeit belated, enhancement of US engagement in the Caribbean. It is a reassuring signal that, despite US demands and preoccupations across an increasingly unstable world, it has not forgotten its long-standing neighbours and friends. The financial and technical resources to be provided make this a tangible act.

Together with President Obama’s intended changes in US foreign policy towards Cuba, it heralds a closer US-Caribbean relationship.