(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The second Conference on the Caribbean (CoC) will take place in New York, USA, from 19-20 June 2008.
The Conference, which coincides with events to mark Caribbean-American Heritage Month in the United States, will focus primarily on education and investment, as well as facilitate engagement with the Caribbean Diaspora.
Agriculture in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is an important economic activity for food production and livelihoods in rural and urban households. Recently the sector increasingly relies on the international market for raw materials, intermediate inputs and final consumer food products.
In keeping with a decision taken at its second meeting here in May, the CARICOM Regional Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) Steering Committee will develop an action plan by September 30, to accelerate the Community’s transformation into an active part of the Information Society.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In keeping with a decision taken at its second meeting in Georgetown, Guyana in May, the CARICOM Regional Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) Steering Committee will develop an action plan by 30 September, 2008 to accelerate the Community’s transformation into an active part of the Information Society.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Representatives of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Commission on Youth Development (CCYD) have embarked on an information and fact finding mission across the Region to harness stakeholders’ views, and recommendations on youth governance structures in Member States.
The information gathering exercise represents one component of the mandate of the CCYD to conduct a comprehensive regional analysis of the situation of Caribbean youth aged 10 – 29.
Dr. The Honourable, Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture of Jamaica
Honourable Robert Persaud, Minister of Agriculture of Guyana
Other Honourable Ministers
Senior Officials
Representatives of Regional and International Institutions
Other Delegates
Colleagues of the CARICOM Secretariat
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
[Salutations]
It is customary on occasions like these for us to remind ourselves of the times in which we are gathered. This 27th Special Meeting of COTED is being opened here this morning against the background of a global food crisis, precipitated by spiralling commodity prices worldwide, and characterized by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as a “ Silent Tsunami”.
Ladies and Gentlemen_
A warm welcome to my colleague Ministers of Agriculture and officials here for the 27th Special Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development. I hope that your stay in Guyana will be enjoyable, but more importantly that our deliberations will be successful.