Canada reaffirms commitment to strengthening security in the Caribbean

Cana­da has reaf­firmed its com­mit­ment to strength­en­ing mar­itime se­cu­ri­ty across the Caribbean through re­gion­al part­ner­ships, to im­prove mar­itime do­main aware­ness, en­hance in­for­ma­tion shar­ing and op­er­a­tional readi­ness, and dis­rupt traf­fick­ing net­works that ex­ploit the re­gion’s mar­itime space.

Cana­di­an High Com­mis­sion­er to Ja­maica, Mark Berman, said that his coun­try’s sup­port for re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty co­op­er­a­tion comes ahead of Ex­er­cise Event Hori­zon 2027, which will bring to­geth­er mil­i­tary, civil­ian and re­gion­al part­ners to test readi­ness and in­ter­op­er­abil­i­ty across mar­itime se­cu­ri­ty, search and res­cue, cy­ber­se­cu­ri­ty, and hu­man­i­tar­i­an as­sis­tance and dis­as­ter re­lief.

Ex­er­cise Event Hori­zon 2027 is sched­uled to take place from Jan­u­ary 15 to 29, 2027, with plan­ning co­or­di­na­tion sup­port­ed by in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners such as the Unit­ed Na­tions Of­fice on Drugs and Crime (UN­ODC) and the World Food Pro­gramme.

“Last­ing se­cu­ri­ty out­comes de­pend on part­ner­ships and the com­ple­men­tary strengths, ex­per­tise and re­sources of our part­ners to sup­port ef­fec­tive, mul­ti­fac­eted so­lu­tions,” the Cana­di­an diplo­mat said.

Ex­er­cise Event Hori­zon 2027 was cit­ed as an ex­am­ple of this part­ner­ship-based ap­proach to build the mu­tu­al trust nec­es­sary to re­spond ef­fec­tive­ly when re­al-world crises emerge.

The mul­ti-agency, mul­ti-coun­try ex­er­cise, led by the Ja­maica De­fence Force (JDF), is ex­pect­ed to sup­port greater co­or­di­na­tion across the re­gion’s mar­itime se­cu­ri­ty com­mu­ni­ty, re­in­forc­ing the im­por­tance of joint pre­pared­ness in ad­dress­ing both cur­rent and emerg­ing threats.

Berman al­so recog­nised the lead­er­ship and con­tri­bu­tion of the Bar­ba­dos-based Re­gion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Sys­tem (RSS) and the Trinidad-based Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty Im­ple­men­ta­tion Agency for Crime and Se­cu­ri­ty (CARI­COM IM­PACS) in ad­vanc­ing re­gion­al se­cu­ri­ty co­op­er­a­tion.

The two re­gion­al in­sti­tu­tions play im­por­tant roles in co­or­di­nat­ing ex­per­tise, strength­en­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion and sup­port­ing col­lec­tive re­spons­es to se­cu­ri­ty chal­lenges across the Caribbean.

Berman said that Cana­da’s sup­port re­flects the recog­ni­tion that mar­itime se­cu­ri­ty is a shared re­spon­si­bil­i­ty re­quir­ing sus­tained co­op­er­a­tion among re­gion­al gov­ern­ments, se­cu­ri­ty in­sti­tu­tions and in­ter­na­tion­al part­ners.

He said by com­bin­ing ca­pa­bil­i­ties and re­sources, par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries can strength­en their abil­i­ty to de­tect and re­spond to threats, while pro­tect­ing le­git­i­mate mar­itime ac­tiv­i­ty and sup­port­ing re­gion­al sta­bil­i­ty.

“To­geth­er, these ef­forts help to build ef­fec­tive se­cu­ri­ty co­op­er­a­tion to meet to­day’s chal­lenges and pre­pare for those of the fu­ture. Cana­da is very in­ter­est­ed in sup­port­ing these ef­forts and work­ing along­side our part­ners.

“Through part­ner­ships, shared val­ues and col­lec­tive ac­tion, we can build a safer, more se­cure and more pros­per­ous Caribbean, where le­git­i­mate trade, eco­nom­ic op­por­tu­ni­ty and sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment can thrive,” Berman added.

Ex­er­cise Event Hori­zon is a bi­en­ni­al multi­na­tion­al, mul­ti-agency, and mul­ti-do­main mil­i­tary and se­cu­ri­ty ex­er­cise host­ed by the JDF, through its Mar­itime Air and Cy­ber Com­mand (MACC).

It sim­u­lates re­al-world se­cu­ri­ty threats, mar­itime law-en­force­ment chal­lenges, cy­ber­crime, and nat­ur­al or man-made dis­as­ter sce­nar­ios to test and im­prove re­gion­al readi­ness, in­ter­op­er­abil­i­ty, and stan­dard op­er­at­ing pro­ce­dures. —KINGSTON, Ja­maica (CMC)