Sedi Chooses Education in Discussion with Mike Pompeo

U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo met with high level government officials and prime ministers from across the Caribbean earlier this week in Kingston, Jamaica.  Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago boycotted the region and a number of other states supported that position because not all members of CARICOM were invited.  Those who were around the table, however, took turns addressing various regional issues and Foreign Minister Wilfred Elrington chose to speak on the topic of education and knowledge disparity. 

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington

Wilfred “Sedi” Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Each of us spoke about different issues.  We had a small caucus before the meeting and it was decided that each of us in the Caribbean will deal with different themes.  One deals with climate change, one would deal with the difficulty we have with banking and de-risking and the like.  I spoke on education.  I have a passion for education and what I said to the American foreign minister is that what concerns me is not the wealth gap, the disparity in wealth that exists, but I am very, very concerned about the disparity in knowledge. How can you assist us to bridge this huge knowledge gap?  And he said, “Mr. Elrington, I did not respond to you because I don‘t know what the answer to that is.”