Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mr Edwin Carrington will lead a delegation on a two-day Briefing Mission to The Bahamas, on 13-14 March 2003. During the mission the Secretary General and his team will meet with high-level government officials, the Opposition, The Bahamas Trade Commission (BTC) and the Bahamian public.

Public support across the region for the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had risen from 68% in 2000 to 80% in 2002 reported Mr. Sheldon Mc Donald, CCJ Project Coordinator in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. He said that all member states of CARICOM are united in their support for the establishment of the regional Court.

The Secretary-General and staff of the Caribbean Community have been deeply concerned by the difficult times which our Member States have recently been enduring. No issue has concerned us more than the rising crime wave which threatens to envelop the Region. And in this regard, no situation has disturbed us more than that in Guyana, the Headquarters of the Community, and the Member State wherein we and our families have made our home, however temporarily.

Once again, as Secretary General of CARICOM, I extend best wishes to the women of the Caribbean Community on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 2003.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Trade Ministers will gather in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Monday 10 March 2003 for a one-day meeting with their Canadian counterpart, the Hon. Pierre Pettigrew.

Monday’s meeting at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre comes just nine days after CARIFORUM Trade Ministers met with the European Union’s Trade Commissioner Mr Pascal Lamy in Castries, St Lucia. CARICOM Member States constitute 14 of the 16 CARIFORUM States.

CHRIST CHURCH, BARBADOS – Developing countries continue to express their interest in the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM). Many developing countries that lack representation in Geneva and that face financial difficulties associated with individual country representation in negotiating meetings see the benefits of the RNM ‘model’. The RNM ‘model’ has also attracted the attention of the European Union (EU). EU Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, indicated this when he met privately with Ambassador the Honorable Dr. Richard Bernal, O.J.

INTRODUCTION

European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, Chairman of ACP Ministerial Trade Committee, Ministerial Chairman of the European Union, Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation, Hon. Julian R. Hunte, Excellencies, Invited Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good Morning.

If developing countries “get it wrong” in the current round of global and hemispheric trade negotiations then they could be faced with a steep decline in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP).