Young artists throughout the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will have an opportunity to showcase their skills in a book cover design competition organised by the CARICOM Secretariat.

The aim of the book is to equip and provide young people of the Community with pertinent information in a simplified manner as it relates to the events and process of Regional Integration.

The Tenth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) will focus on crucial issues concerning the establishment of CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) when the week-long officials and ministerial deliberations begin at the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat on 8 January, 2001.

Mr. Chairman,

I thank the delegation of Haiti for the statement made to the Permanent Council on the recent elections in Haiti.

The position of the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, has been expressed to this august body on several occasions. CARICOM's engagement with Haiti is a matter of great importance to the Region.

 It was with profound sadness that the Caribbean Community learnt of the recent passing of His Excellency, Henck Arron, former Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname, on 4 December 2000 at the age of 64.

Recently decorated by the Government of Suriname for service to the country, Henck Arron played a key role in the political arena of his beloved country. He will best be remembered for negotiating a three and a half billion guilder 'golden handshake' as part of Suriname's independence package from Holland.

As someone associated with the development of the Single Market and Economy, I most excitedly welcome the publication of the Caribbean Trade and Investment Report 2000. Empirical research has to be the foundation of meaningful policy-making, especially in our rapidly changing regional, hemispheric and global environment, and it is in that regard that this publication will contribute immensely to informing our deliberations on the deepening of the integration process.

Mr. Chairman,
Hon. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Barbados, Mr. Anthony Wood;
Other Ministers of Government,
Delegates,
Representatives of the media,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to this, the 40th session of the Caribbean Meteorological Council (CMC 40).

Mr Chairman
Principal of the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH)
Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is with extreme pleasure that I welcome you to this 40^th Meeting of the Council of the Caribbean Meteorological Organisation (CMO).

The 40^th Session of the Caribbean Meteorological Council (CMC) opened at the Sherbourne Centre in Barbados on 7^th December, 2000 with delegates and members from the Caribbean Meteorological Organisation (CMO), focussing mainly on arrangements for the implementation of a regional radar project.

The project will see radar systems established in four Caribbean countries - Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Belize.

The Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), and the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), are jointly developing a study on the impact of El Nino, a global weather phenomenon, on the Region, according to Barbados' Minister for Agriculture and Urban Development, the Hon. Anthony Wood.