Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Dr Edmunds and Party
Deputy Secretary-General
Members of Staff of the Secretariat
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

At a meeting at the Hilton Hotel, Kingston Jamaica, on 18-19 February 2002, Health Ministers of the Caribbean countries held a successful round of discussions with representatives of leading pharmaceutical Companies on access to care for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Region. This meeting was the first stage in a process and comes close on the heels of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica developing their own national plans in partnership with United Nations agencies and the pharmaceutical industry.

Having already established a Single Market for intra-regional trade in goods, the Caribbean Community has taken a significant step towards the creation of a Single market for Services, Capital and the Establishment of Businesses by CARICOM Nationals.

Civil Society Organisations in Guyana are being urged to be opportunistic in their dialogue with Government, as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) continues its series of national consultations with the Regions' civil society, aimed at building a shared vision across the Region for the Caribbean Community, in the new century.

A cross-section of non-state interest groups are scheduled to meet later this week in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines capital, Kingstown, to continue their national dialogue with non-state actors on the regional integration process, particularly as it relates to new and emerging trade agreements. The particular concerns to be addressed by the forum will centre around "fair and just" treatment for all sectors of society as well as positioning of the small economies of the Caribbean in the global arena.

The Fourth Meeting of the Project Advisory Group (PAG) for the European Union-funded project on "Strengthening the Institutional Response to HIV/AIDS/STI in the Caribbean" (SIRHASC) was held in Georgetown, Guyana on 15 February 2002. The Meeting was convened under the chairmanship of Assistant Secretary-General, Human and Social Development, Dr. Edward Greene who is also the Deputy Regional Authorising Officer (DRAO) for the Project.

At the Third Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean and the Secretary of State of the United States Colin Powell, held on Thursday, 7 February 2002 in Nassau, The Bahamas, the Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Dominican Republic, placed trade and investment issues firmly at the top of their agenda. They reminded the United States of the significant advantage it has been enjoying in its balance of trade with the Caribbean since the establishment of the Caribbean Basin Initiative in the mid 1980s.

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) officials are upbeat on the Region's preparations for the new round of negotiations with the European Union aimed at securing new Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The negotiations are due to start in September 2002.

The Ministry of Health, Jamaica will host the first in a series of regional meetings to discuss ways in which the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States can access cheaper anti-retroviral drugs to care for persons living with HIV/AIDS in the Region. The Meeting takes place on 18-19 February 2002, in the capital, Kingston.

The two-day Meeting will focus on negotiations with major international pharmaceutical companies, supplying anti-retroviral drugs to the Caribbean.