PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and political leaders from across the Caribbean have met in Trinidad's capital to discuss a range of trade, economic and security issues.

After a more than three hour meeting in Port-of-Spain, Biden signed an agreement Tuesday providing a framework for trade and investment between the U.S. and the 15-member Caribbean Community bloc.

Biden told reporters that the administration's goal is, in his words, "growth that reaches everybody."

The vice president and regional leaders also discussed efforts to combat drug trafficking and other transnational crimes under a program dubbed the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.