CARICOM Chairman Dr Terrence Drew has downplayed the scathing criticism of the regional body by Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, declaring that he is in the business of “building bridges, not lighting fires”.

Drew made the remark as he responded to a reporter’s question on Friday during a press conference to mark the close of the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom in St Kitts and Nevis.

He was asked to explain his assertion that regional heads showed unity during the meeting, even dressing alike ahead of their retreat, which some leaders skipped. He was also asked to explain Persad-Bissessar’s scathing criticism of the regional body at Tuesday’s opening session.

During her criticism Persad-Bissessar also blasted regional leaders for their show of support for regional neighbour Cuba.

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness has come under criticism from United States Congressman Carlos Giménez after expressing solidarity with Cuba as the Caribbean country deals with the effects of a United States oil blockade.

“Let me premise my answer by saying my objective, and our objective, is to build bridges and not light fires. And so we seek to look for opportunities of how we can build bridges,” Drew said on Friday. He pointed out that Caricom is an integration movement of sovereign nations, and at any given point you will hear differences of opinion on particular issues.

“I look at those as opportunities to strengthen the organisation and to advance the organisation, because those things [disagreements] always happen,” he added.

The Caricom chair also stated that, “If you have an integration movement and there are no differences of opinion, I would question if people are really committed to the movement because, as I have said before, if you sit with yourself you might disagree with yourself after five minutes of sitting silently with yourself.

“So, there will be differences, and these are the things that we have to work through. But what is important is not the differences — because they necessarily have to happen — it’s how we address the differences. Are we mature enough to understand that we will have differences, to know that there will be difficulties, but so committed so that we will work through them for the betterment of the organisation?”

The St Kitts and Nevis prime minister stressed that even with the differences, which are expected, regional heads are still able to sit together and work through them.

He also brushed aside talk that Caricom is fragmented, in particular on the controversial issue of the United States’s bombing of alleged drug boats in Caribbean waters since last September. While the Trinidad and Tobago prime minister has thrown her full support behind the US, much of Caricom has remained silent on an issue that legal experts have argued violates international law and could amount to war crimes.

Asked whether Caricom as a bloc has endorsed the United States’s action against drug trafficking in the region, Drew said, “Caricom stands on principle to make sure that anything that is done has to follow a particular international law.”

He said the necessary investigations are taking place to ensure that the response given by the regional body is both complete and comprehensive.

“I would say that Caricom, by principle, respects laws and all international laws…” he said.

When pressed further on whether there was fragmentation in Caricom as it relates to the relationship between individual states and the United States, with both Guyana and Trinidad invited to meet with US President Donald Trump next week, Drew pushed back forcefully.

“Caricom is not experiencing any levels of fragmentation. I think that this meeting demonstrates our commitment to Caricom as a strong organisation,” he declared, adding that Caricom does not have a homogenous or single foreign policy, with that being left up to individual states.

Drew explained that Caricom may seek to coordinate but each State has the opportunity to determine what would be its foreign policy agenda. He also stated that Caricom is not a political union.

“And so, Trinidad and Tobago and any other country being invited to a meeting does not fragment Caricom at all,” Drew said.

“The fact that different countries within Caricom can have relationships that span the whole spectrum of relationships …that can actually enrich Caricom, but it does not fracture Caricom. There is no picture or evidence that this is fracturing Caricom. There’s some differences, yes, but fracturing, I think, is a very, very strong word at this time,” he insisted.