(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), I wish to acknowledge the lead taken by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to observe 21 May as World Day for Cultural Diversity. This year’s observance takes place within the context of renewed international commitment to cultural diversity, given that a year ago on March 18, 2007, the international Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions entered into force.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General His Excellency Edwin Carrington has called on the Community to respect and promote the principles of cultural diversity, and to ensure that the Community is a place built on mutual understanding and respect for all cultures.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Edwin Carrington has reiterated the need for the Community to create opportunities for the full development of the creativity of its young people, noting that this was central to the development of the Region’s Culture agenda.
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.
[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_
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
CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Newly-elected President of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the Hon Dr Leslie Ramsammy has lamented the omission of the issue of chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (cNCDs) from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is insistent that this issue is accorded high priority on the global public agenda.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Domestic violence and sexual abuse, particularly of young children is one of the many issues that the new President of the World Health Assembly wants to see tackled by the World Health Organisation, (WHO).
Guyana’s Minister of Health, the Hon Dr. Ramsammy who now holds the presidency of the WHA told the 61st Assembly on Monday, 19 May 2008, that it was necessary to dig out the root causes of the problem of domestic and sexual violence.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Hon Dr Christopher Tufton, Agriculture Minister of Jamaica, Chair of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), and the Hon. Robert Persaud, Agriculture Minister of Guyana, will address the opening session of the Twenty-Seventh Special Meeting of the COTED on Agriculture tomorrow in Georgetown, Guyana.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Ministers of Health met during the 61st World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva 19-24 May, to discuss the strategies for implementing the Caribbean Regional Health Authority.
Based on a number of studies and reports completed by experts in the field over the past years, the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in June 2007 recommended the establishment of an integrated regional health authority as a more efficient way of sharing resources and of carrying out the regional health functions.