· to renew UK ties with
influential region in visit to Jamaica, Colombia, Chile and
Brazil
· He will attend UK-Caribbean
Forum and announce funding for region’s security and climate
resilience
· In South America, Cleverly
will stress British support for upholding democracy and
protecting the rainforest
The Foreign Secretary will visit countries across Latin America
and the Caribbean over the next seven days to renew the UK’s
relationship with the influential region.
arrives in Jamaica today (18
May), on the first leg of a four-country trip that will focus on
climate, democracy and the links between our
people.
In Kingston, he will announce £15million in funding for a
Violence Prevention Partnership to counter serious and organised
crime, as well as up to £7million for climate finance –
supporting the island’s security and protecting vital sites
against flooding and coastal erosion.
He will then travel to Colombia, Chile and Brazil – 200 years
after Britain first began establishing diplomatic ties with the
independent Latin American republics – to deliver a keynote
speech on the future relationship with this important
region.
It is the first visit by a Foreign Secretary to the Caribbean
since 2017 and the first to South America since 2018 – helping
meet a UK foreign policy objective to revive old friendships and
build new ones beyond established
alliances.
Latin America, home to 660 million people and with combined GDP
of more than $6 trillion, is also an enormous potential market
for the UK. Mexico, Chile and Peru are among the region’s members
the UK will be joining in the Comprehensive and Progressive
Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trading bloc –
boosting British jobs, growth and influence.
With more than a quarter of the world’s forests, it is also an
essential partner in tackling climate change.
Foreign Secretary
said:
“This is a milestone year in the history of UK relations with
countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.
“While I look forward to celebrating our close bonds of
friendship and family, I am also here to renew and enhance our
ties for the years ahead.
“It is a partnership that will be marked and strengthened by our
shared values of freedom, democracy and concern for the state of
our planet.”
In Jamaica today, Cleverly will attend the UK-Caribbean Forum to
set out support for Small Island Developing States (SIDS),
following a reception he hosted in London
on the eve of the Coronation. He will then meet with Jamaican
Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
From 19-21 May, the Foreign Secretary will be in Colombia to
announce new UK support and funding for peace and tackling
climate change by protecting the Amazon.
Cleverly will visit the Amazon frontier region of Guaviare to see
how UK-funded projects are preventing deforestation and helping
former combatants rebuild their lives through eco-tourism.
The UK has contributed over £80 million towards implementation of
the landmark 2016 Colombian Peace Agreement.
On 22 May, Cleverly will give a speech in Chile’s capital
Santiago setting out the UK’s approach to Latin America and
like-minded powers around the world. The speech will launch
bicentenary celebrations of UK-Latin America relations in British
embassies across the continent – two centuries years after
then-Foreign Secretary George Canning played a pivotal role in
guaranteeing the independence of the region’s new
states.
The visit will conclude in Brazil, where Cleverly will sign a
wide-ranging climate partnership with his hosts on Green and
Inclusive Growth and travel to the Amazon rainforest. This will
build on the £80 million of Amazon funding announced by the Prime
Minister during President Lula’s visit to the UK for the
Coronation.
He will emphasise the UK’s support for Brazilian democracy at the
national Congress, which was attacked by protestors on 8
January.
The Foreign Secretary set out his personal commitment to
deepening UK engagement with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin
America in his speech on 12 December 2022 -
where he said the UK’s future global impact will depend on
winning over a far broader array of global partners.
