Major hotels and governments have been complaining bitterly about tons of smelly seaweed invading beaches across the region, chasing away tourists and raking up a hefty bill to clear and clean up affected beaches.

“We are willing to share this will all the countries, ” Modi said, calling the seaweed invasion on beaches in the tourism dependent nations as “a very big problem.”

He arrived in regional bloc headquarters Guyana late Tuesday and by  Wednesday morning his delegation had signed on to several cooperation agreements from energy and food security to collaboration in health and agriculture. The visiting PM also said that oil producing Guyana will play and key role in India’s energy security going forward and in much the same way India will help the region improve rice and agriculture production in general.

“We were able to contribute to the food security of not only Guyana but also the entire Caribbean,” he said as he noted the fact that Indian indentured laborers had been brought to Guyana during the colonial era and now make a significant contribution to the country. Neary half of Guyana’s population can trace their ancestry to India.

Meanwhile, saying also that  India had made much progress with solar and other alternative energy sources,  he said New Delhi would also be willing to fully equip at least one government building in each of the nations with solar power systems.

As well, PM Modi said India would help set up drug testing laboratories around the bloc and improve capacity building in every area including the provision of river and sea ferries for marine transport.

And speaking before Modi, Guyanese President Irfaan Ali and bloc Chairman Dickon Mitchell of Grenada both heaped praises on India for providing the first set of vaccines to the Caribbean during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020.

Mitchell said that even “at its own time of need” India had cared enough to assist ” it own brothers and sisters in CARICOM” by providing vaccines to governments as he praised south-south cooperation in several areas.