Montserratians are eagerly awaiting the completion of the CARICOM Village at Davy Hill in the north of the island.

Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister the Hon. Lester Bird and CARICOM Secretary-General Mr Edwin Carrington toured the project on the north side of the island during their one-day visit to the volcano-stricken Member State of the Caribbean Community on Tuesday. Of the 25 pre- fabricated houses being provided by CARICOM with the assistance of Cuba, 15 are about 80 percent complete.

Antigua and Barbuda's Prime Minister, the Hon. Lester Bird, accompanied by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General Mr. Edwin Carrington will pay a goodwill visit to Montserrat on Tuesday December 29 to share the spirit of the Christmas season with residents of that volcano-stricken Member State of the Caribbean Community.

The PPP/Civic and the PNC have agreed that in an effort to speed up the resolution of issues agreed for discussions the leaders of each Party's Dialogue Team would meet as often as possible outside of the weekly Statutory Meetings of the Dialogue. These meetings of the respective Leaders are described as Bilateral Meetings. Any agreements reached at those bilateral meetings would be reported to the Dialogue and form part of the record of the Dialogue.

The CARICOM Goodwill Mission to Haiti, led by Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia and Chairman of CARICOM, provided, according to Secretary-General Mr. Edwin Carrington, a unique opportunity for CARICOM to obtain a deeper appreciation of the Haitian political climate. This was critical, he said, given the negotiations being undertaken for the exercise by Haiti of its full rights and obligations as a member of the Community by January 1, 2000.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman Dr the Hon. Kenny D. Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia undertakes a Goodwill Mission to Haiti 7-9 December 1998. He will be accompanied by Secretary-General Mr. Edwin Carrington.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Mr Edwin Carrington will preside over a plenary session at the Annual Miami Conference on the Caribbean and Latin America 1998 entitled "Europe and the Americas Beyond 2000".

The session takes place on Friday December 11, 1998 from 9.00 a.m at the Chopin Room of the Inter-Continental Hotel, Miami, Florida, USA. Feature speaker at the session will be the Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Rt Hon P. J. Patterson.

Over the past decade, the continuing increase in the incidence and prevalence of the HIV infection and the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( AIDS ) has been the cause of increasing concern to the Caribbean population . The youth of our Region are not only experiencing increasing morbidity but significant mortality from this and the theme_ "Youth: A Force for Change", could not have been more timely.

As a mark of respect for the death of former Secretaries-General the Hon. William Demas TC, OCC and Dr Kurleigh King, GCM, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat will open Books of Condolence for signing on Wednesday December 2, 1998 at its Headquarters at the Bank of Guyana Building.

The books will be open from 10 a.m to 4 p.m on Wednesday and also from 10 a.m to 4 p.m on Thursday December 3, 1998.

All Jamaica and the Caribbean mourn the passing of Honourable William Demas, O.C.C., on Saturday last in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The late William Demas had already reached the highest echelons of official service in Trinidad and Tobago, when he embarked on the wider mission of the drive for Caribbean integration.

He was at one and the same time a propeller and an anchor for every meaningful advance in the process of regional integration.