COTED

Delegates to the Eighth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) have begun deliberating a number of key "bread and butter" issues pertinent to the well-being of the people of the Region. They will map definitive action in response to a number of challenges facing it, at a two-day meeting which began today, 7 February, 2000 at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown.

A range of matters aimed at quickening the pace of, and strengthening the regional integration process in facing-up to the challenges in the new Century will be covered by Caribbean Community (CARICOM) officials when they meet in Georgetown on the 4-5 February, 2000 to prepare for the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).

The Ministerial Meeting takes place at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown on 7- 8 February, 2000.

The Seventh Regular Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) was held at the Headquarters of the Community on 8 October 1999. The Meeting was very positive and reached a number of important conclusions.

ADDRESS BY SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY, EDWIN W. CARRINGTON

Mr. Chairman
Other Distinguished Ministers
Other Distinguished Delegates
Secretariat Staff
Members of the Media

The Seventh Ministerial Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development, gets underway tomorrow, 8^th October, 1999 at the Secretariat's Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana.

Ministers and officials will deliberate on several issues of importance to the Region, foremost among them being the status of moves towards the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. In this regard they will focus on the progress towards the implementation of Protocols VIII and IX, the last of the instruments which seek to amend the Treaty of Chaguaramas.

Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Mr.Edwin Carrington has implored Member States to redouble efforts for the timely completion of the key elements of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSM&E).

Agriculture and related issues of trade, standards, and external economic relations were the highlight of the just concluded Sixth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) at the Caribbean Community CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana, on 4-5 June 1999.

A range of matters including progress towards the implementation of a CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the Regional Transformation Programme for agriculture are among items on the agenda of the Sixth Meeting of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) which got underway on 4 June, 1999 in Georgetown, Guyana.

The Fifth Meeting of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Council For Trade and Economic Development (COTED) begins in Georgetown, Guyana on Thursday.