(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) A format to facilitate dialogue between media professionals and the agriculture sector, which was pioneered by the Caribbean, is now being used by countries of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states to assist in bridging the divide between the two sectors.

The adoption of the Caribbean formula by the ACP has come in for praise by the Executive Director of the Caribbean Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Dr. Arlington Chesney.

Mr. Chairman, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy is an instrument conceived by Heads of Governments of the CARICOM Community to facilitate the economic development of the member states of CARICOM. As we have heard many times, and with which many of us can agree, the private sector is the driver of social and economic development, and welfare, in any modern society. Our ability to identify and exploit market opportunities is instrumental in creating jobs, and in affording many other-wise unemployed citizens the opportunity to earn a living.

It is with a sense of great expectation, that as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, I address you at this Opening Ceremony of this historic Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

Let me at the outset thank the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson, Head of Government with Lead Responsibility in the Community for the CSME, for not only being the host of this Convocation but also for conceiving this seminal forum and for contributing so much to making it a reality.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Director of Human and Social Development in the CARICOM Secretariat, Myrna Bernard is advocating for formal education on Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

In a presentation to the two-day meeting of the Bureau of Women’s/Gender Affairs in Georgetown, Guyana on Wednesday, Ms Bernard told gender directors and coordinators that they should consider more seriously the introduction of GBV in the Health and Family Life Education curriculum, a curriculum which was intended to address violence in the schools context.

  It is with a sense of great expectation, that as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, I address you at this Opening Ceremony of this historic Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

Let me at the outset thank the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson, Head of Government with Lead Responsibility in the Community for the CSME, for not only being the host of this Convocation but also for conceiving this seminal forum and for contributing so much to making it a reality.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Region’s private sector and labour are of one accord on the necessity for a more concerted effort by Member States to advance the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The CARICOM Single Market is working but varying levels of commitment and emphasis on specific initiatives “bedevil implementation in a consistent and timely manner,” the Hon David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados said Friday.