Caribbean Community (CARICOM ) leaders discussed a number of topical issues ranging from disaster management, mitigation and recovery to mandatory evacuations for regional citizens during natural disasters during the two days of the 29th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the CARICOM that ended February 27.

Regional crime, violence and tourism were also on the agenda.

Bahamian Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield, who took over the chair as head of delegation for The Bahamas on Tuesday following Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’s departure for New Providence Monday night, said the discussions “went extremely well.”

“I believe the Community is in a position to determine a couple of matters,” Minister Henfield said. “Yesterday, we looked at disaster preparedness and response and the Prime Minister made some extremely important interventions where we were able to speak to what we experienced in The Bahamas during the last hurricane.”

Minister Henfield said the effects of climate change on the region, was also addressed in the wake of the recent super storms that wreaked havoc on the community during the 2017 Hurricane Season.

“We in this region live in the Hurricane Belt. Hurricanes are a part of the natural environment,” Minister Henfield said. “It is anticipated that with climate change, these systems will become more frequent; they will become more ferocious, and so we have to be able to sustain ourselves. We have to be able to respond after they have hit us and we need to put ourselves in a position, as a people, to be able to do most of this ourselves.”