NEW DELHI: India can extend support of up to $1 million for medium and small projects in the Caribbean, said External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar in Georgetown, Guyana, on Saturday.
"We are open to supporting small and medium scale projects of upto $1 million. My PM is very clear that we are there not just for ourselves but also for the countries who are not on the G20 table,’’ Dr Jaishankar said while co-chairing the fourth India-Caricom (15-member Caribbean Community) ministerial meeting.
He emphasised that the focus would be on energy, particularly renewable energy, and said it was their “collective interest”, adding that India cared for the voice of the Global South.
"Today, I’d like to put forward for your collective consideration a proposal in the field of small & medium scale enterprises. We would be open to supporting on a grant basis, individual projects of up to a value of a million dollars and we would solicit proposals from you," he added.
India would like to create a partner group and see whether it can help in supporting viable project offers from the Caribbean through the supply of machinery, technology and training.
On the sidelines of the summit, Jaishankar met his counterparts from Suriname Albert Ramdin, Dr. Denzil Douglas from St. Kitts and Nevis, Joseph Andall from Grenada, Barbados foreign minister Kerrie Symmonds, Kamina Johnson Smith from Jamaica, Dr. Amery Browne from Trinidad and Tobago and Keisal Peters from St. Vincent and Grenadines. Among the other dignitaries, he met Bahamas Parliamentary Secretary Jamahl Strachen.