NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) Commodore Raymond King attended the Chief of Defence Staff (CHoDs) conference in Antigua from September 1-3, 2021, to share best practices and discuss matters of mutual interest.
He was accompanied by his aide, Sub Lieutenant Delroy Dennis.
The sessions also included General Sir Nick Carter; general chief of defence staff, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Major General C S Collins, general officer commanding 1st UK Division; Lieutenant Colonel Simon Westlake, Royal Marines United Kingdom’s defence attaché to the Caribbean; and Commander Brian Trim, MBE RN commander task group.
Also in attendance were countries with various chiefs of defence staff, in particular Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago; and defence and security partners across the region who took part virtually and shared their views on global security and joint partnerships.
They all agreed on several initiatives with training and education designed to improve collective capacity to deal with the diverse security challenges that confront the region.
The inaugural conference convened virtually in November 2020, with each of the regional chiefs of defence. This second conference focused on building on the success of the virtual event in strengthening the UK-Caribbean relationships and developing concepts for UK engagement with its Caribbean partners on issues of mutual interest.
The core conference began with an opening ceremony supported by Antigua Prime Minister Gaston Browne.
In the first core session, Carter set out the UK perspective on the strategic context, informed by the recently concluded Integrated Review (IR) and Defence Command Plan (DCP).
The three individual sessions covered issues of serious organized crime threats; regional initiatives and the implications for UK Defence engagement; and natural threats.
The UK-CDS expressed his ambition to use the conference as a vehicle for institutional capacity building, military capability development, training and education, doctrine and concepts. These are ways to maximize collective security development with focused UK engagement while better constructing an approach that matches the region’s aspirations and requirements.
The final session of the three-day conference was held aboard HMS MEDWAY, River Class Offshore Patrol Vessel built on the Clyde. This permanent Caribbean patrol ship was deployed to the Caribbean to support disaster relief and conduct counter-trafficking operations as an alternative setting for a maritime security-focused discussion. It served as a setting to discuss regional maritime security, which included talks around preparedness for Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response (HADR) and UK involvement in regional partnerships.
