Colleague Prime Ministers of the Subcommittee on the CSME
Honourable Prime Ministers of the Community
Ministers of Government
Secretary-General
Ladies and gentlemen

Heads of State and Government of CARICOM
Secretary General of CARICOM, Dr. Edwin Carrington
My Lord, Chief Justice of Belize
Ministers of Government and Members of the National Assembly of Belize
Heads of International and Regional Organizations
Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps
Other Specially invited guests
Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The absolute urgency for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to have the capacity to act, and to do so in unison in the current global situation was underscored Thursday by His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARICOM.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Belize Prime Minster and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the Hon. Dean Barrow has dismissed as “an exaggeration” the “regional chatter” predicting the demise of the integration movement, and called on delegates to the Twentieth Intersessional Meeting of Heads of Government of CARICOM to consolidate the gains of the CARICOM Single Market and move forward with the establishment of the Single Economy.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Hon Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, will shortly propose to his Parliament constitutional amendments towards the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as the final appellate court of that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member State.

The Prime Minister’s announcement Thursday morning at the opening of the Twentieth Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government drew sustained applause from the delegates at the Radisson Fort George Hotel in Belize City, Belize.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Committee of Central Bank Governors is to provide to Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), proposals on how the Community could collaborate to tackle the current international financial and economic crisis. The Committee should present the proposals by the end of March.

The global situation was the premier item of the first business session of the Twentieth Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM which was formally opened on 12 March 2009 in Belize City, Belize.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) On the invitation of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean Community mounted a CARICOM Electoral Observer Mission to monitor the election system and processes, as well as the conduct of the General Elections held on 12 March 2009.

The eleven member Observer Mission led by Mr. Noel Lee, former Director of Elections of Jamaica was drawn from the following CARICOM Member States_

• Barbados;
• Guyana;
• Haiti;
• Jamaica;
• Saint Lucia; and,
• Suriname.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Belize has joined seven other CARICOM Member States in establishing a Coalition of Service Providers to increase the export of services within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and provide technical and other inputs into negotiations for the trade in services.

The Coalition of service industries is an umbrella body that represents various service stakeholders including teachers, nurses, doctors, engineers, tour operators and cultural artists.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Belize’s Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, the Honourable Wilfred Elrington has called for a “fundamental change” in the country’s approach to education.

Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Excellency Ban Ki-Moon;
Their Excellencies, Representatives of the CARICOM Caucus of Ambassadors to the United Nations;
Under Secretary General of the United Nations for Political Affairs;
Representatives of Specialised UN Agencies;
Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States;
Deputy Secretary General and Representatives of the CARICOM Secretariat;
Heads and other Representatives of CARICOM Institutions and Associate Institutions;
Partners in Development all;

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