(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which opens in Barbados on Sunday 1 July, will consider critical issues under the broad context of increased functional cooperation in the Region, according to CARICOM Secretary General, H.E. Edwin Carrington.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Scaling up care and treatment and reducing stigma and discrimination are critical to successful HIV and AIDS response in this Region. “Tremendous work has been done, but we have just tipped the problem”. This is the view of the Hon. Edmund Estephane, Minister of Health, Saint Lucia.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Conference on the Caribbean wrapped up at the Organisation of American States (OAS) in Washington DC on Thursday 21 June with The Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis hailing the event as an “overwhelming success”.

He said the historic three-day round of meetings - held under the theme 'Conference on the Caribbean_ a 20/20 Vision' - will be the launch pad to sustained relations with the Region, the United States and the Caribbean Diaspora.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  Come July 1, 2007, several CARICOM Heads of Government will attend the annual CARICOM 10K Road Race; this year, to be hosted in Barbados, under the theme_ The Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region. The race will start and end at the Bay Street Esplanade, opposite the Office of the Prime Minister.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Achieving universal access, scaling up testing and counselling and defining a comprehensive care package among other issues, will be the focus of a workshop on 25-27 June 2007 in Saint Lucia. The workshop is convened by the CARICOM-coordinated Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) in collaboration with the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) and the World Bank.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Ms. Caroline Anstey, Director, Caribbean Country Management Unit, World Bank, said the challenge that follows the Conference on the Caribbean will be to translate the tremendous capital that was evident into tangible benefits for the Caribbean people.

The World Bank, one of the co-sponsors of the Conference, held in Washington, DC from 19-21 June 2007, hosted the Experts Forum, one of three meetings held during the event.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In its quest to eradicate poverty, the Caribbean Region must reorient its fiscal systems as well as move its production systems away from preferential treatment.

This was the view articulated by The Right Hon. Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, in his keynote address at the opening of the Conference on the Caribbean on 19 June 2007 at the Preston Hall, World Bank, Washington DC.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The process of engagement with the Diaspora, the value of remittances and calls for investment in the Caribbean, formed the basis of the dialogue between the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Diaspora in Washington DC USA,on 19 June 2007.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The Hon. Hazel Manning, Education Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has underscored the role of education in human development and in the wider context of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Minister Manning was addressing the Experts Forum of the Conference on the Caribbean under the theme 'Addressing Quality and Equity in Social Development'. The Experts Forum, which began on 19 June, continued today Wednesday 20 June at the World Bank, Washington DC.