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Mr. Chairman Mr. Chairman, I wish to express my gratitude for the warm welcome that you have extended to me at this, my first meeting, of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. |
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This evening marks a momentous occasion in Caribbean legal history. We are gathered here to take a giant step towards the completion of psychological, political and judicial independence.
The Agreement establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is now ready for signature by Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. It is in the nature of a Treaty.
Colleague Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community;
Honourable Ministers of Government of the Community;
Your Excellency Dr Edwin Carrington;
Sir Shridath Ramphal, CARICOM's Chief Negotiator;
Other Heads of Delegations;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen_
Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government will hold their Twelfth Inter-Sessional Meeting in Barbados next week, from Wednesday to Friday, 14 to 16 February in Barbados. The Meeting, which will take place at the Sherbourne Conference Centre in St. Michael, will see the signing of the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice and the conferment of the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) Award on three outstanding Caribbean nationals - The Rt. Hon George Price of Belize, Sir George Alleyne of Barbados and Dr.
Caribbean youth are working towards the implementation of the revised Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Regional Youth Ambassador (RYA) programme. RYAs will be trained to function as activists and advocates for regional integration, Caribbean Unity and Youth empowerment; and to design and implement community-based youth development and empowerment programmes.
On Thursday the Regional HIV/AIDS task force will convene it'sĀ fifth meeting with the specific objective of formulating the plan of action for the European Commission-funded project aimed at strengthening the institutional response to HIV/AIDS/STI in the Caribbean. This meeting, which will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, is also the first of the project advisory group.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Barbados, Ms. Billie Miller, has called on Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to extend a helping hand to El Salvador, which is desperately trying to recover from a powerful earthquake, which ravaged the Central American country recently.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has a relatively developed system for national legislation for weighing machines. Automatic weighing devices are widely used to determine the quantity of loads in terms of mass. While some applications are specified by national legislation, they are subject to legal metrological control. In CARICOM there is an ever increasing need to have metrological quality confirmed by calibration testing systems against a standard of higher accuracy ensuring consistency in system integrity, for example, where required by ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17025 standards
Mr. Chairman and Host Minister, Hon. Ralph Fonseca
Rt. Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis
Regional Ministers
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Representatives of International and Regional Organisations
Distinguished Guests
Friends of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Heads of Government were informed by the Hon. Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago of the political and constitutional situation in that country.
Heads of Government were also apprised by Dr. the Hon. Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia - in his capacity as CARICOM Head of Government with lead responsibility for Justice and Governance - of the consultations in which he engaged during his recent visit to Trinidad and Tobago at the request of Prime Minister, the Hon. Basdeo Panday.