Mr. Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARICOM
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to join you for this forum. Since the United Nations and CARICOM signed our cooperation agreement some twelve years ago, we have collaborated closely on a number of critical issues. I welcome this opportunity to deepen our ties further still.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The United Nations (UN) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) needed to step up cooperation in the face of the current global economic and financial crisis and work to combat serious problems such as narco-trafficking and the accompanying violent crimes, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said Monday. In this regard, the renewed cooperation between CARICOM and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime would have an important role to play, the Secretary-General said.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The newly launched Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS) on Friday afternoon wrapped up its first Board of Directors Meeting with plans to tackle administrative issues to ensure that by March the entity would be well set to begin its work.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has noted the excitement across the Region as the date for the Fifth Summit of the Americas draws closer. The Summit will be held in Trinidad and Tobago 17-19 April 2009, under the theme ‘Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability’.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Regional Meeting on Standards of Care for Treatment and Rehabilitation Facilities for Substance Abusers rolled out an ambitious timeline for the completion of its first handbook that will establish the standards for practitioners in drug treatment and care facilities in the Region.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The first regional training workshop on Standards of Care for Treatment and Rehabilitation Facilities for Substance Abusers which ended in Montego Bay, Jamaica on 4 March was deemed a “resounding success” by the more than forty international and regional stakeholders who participated.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community has announced that Mr. Noel Lee, former Director of Elections of Jamaica, will be Chief of Mission for the CARICOM Electoral Observation Mission for the 12 March, 2009 Antigua and Barbuda General elections.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Secretariat’s Programme Manager Sustainable Development, Ms Beverely Reynolds has made an impassioned plea for the Caribbean Countries and the European Union to strengthen the partnership in waging the war against the use of illicit drugs in the Caribbean Region, declaring that the Region’s sustainable development was seriously threatened by this social malady.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The CARICOM Secretariat is honoured to salute the women and girls of the Caribbean Community on the occasion of International Women’s Day (IWD), 8 March, 2009.

This annual celebration gives us a special opportunity to reflect on the achievements on the path towards gender equality and women’s empowerment.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will focus on the effects of the current global economic and financial crisis on the Region and possible mitigating actions when they gather in Belize City, Belize, 12-13 March for the Twentieth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government. The global crisis has been under discussion by the Community’s leaders since last November at the 24th Meeting of the Bureau of Conference of Heads of Government in Antigua.