Press Releases

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Domestic violence and sexual abuse, particularly of young children is one of the many issues that the new President of the World Health Assembly wants to see tackled by the World Health Organisation, (WHO).

Guyana’s Minister of Health, the Hon Dr. Ramsammy who now holds the presidency of the WHA told the 61st Assembly on Monday, 19 May 2008, that it was necessary to dig out the root causes of the problem of domestic and sexual violence.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Hon Dr Christopher Tufton, Agriculture Minister of Jamaica, Chair of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), and the Hon. Robert Persaud, Agriculture Minister of Guyana, will address the opening session of the Twenty-Seventh Special Meeting of the COTED on Agriculture tomorrow in Georgetown, Guyana.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Ministers of Health met during the 61st World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva 19-24 May, to discuss the strategies for implementing the Caribbean Regional Health Authority.

Based on a number of studies and reports completed by experts in the field over the past years, the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in June 2007 recommended the establishment of an integrated regional health authority as a more efficient way of sharing resources and of carrying out the regional health functions.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The 61st World Health Assembly opened today (19 May 2008) at the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland with the Hon. Dr Leslie Ramsammy, Minister of Health of Guyana assuming the Presidency of the premier international Health organization. The Guyana Minister of Health is the second Caribbean Community (CARICOM) appointee to this position in 30 years.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) With food prices soaring in the Caribbean and around the globe and its annual food bill expected to climb this year, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is taking a proactive approach to the issue by hosting an international investment Forum in Guyana early next month tailored specifically to attracting investment for its agriculture sector.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) As the Region continues to identify and implement measures to achieve food security in a time of spiraling cost of living, the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will meet in a special session next week to deal with agriculture.

Vice Presidents of the 61st World Health Assembly
Director General, Dr. Margaret Chan
Colleague Ministers of Health
Excellencies
Distinguished Delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen

This is not merely a personal honour. I am from Guyana and from the Caribbean Community.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), His Excellency Edwin Carrington is in Peru on the first stop of a three-nation visit to South America.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Trade Ministers of the Caribbean Community, meeting at the Twenty-Sixth Special Meeting for the Council of Trade and Economic Development in Antigua and Barbuda on 10 May 2008, examined various issues relating to the Region’s banana industry, in particular, matters affecting the level of preferential access to the European market -- preferences that have been instrumental in raising thousands of small farmers out of poverty while enabling them to achieve commendable levels of social and environmental responsibility.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Commission (EC) and the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) is to be signed in July 2008.

At the Twenty-Sixth Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) which wrapped up in Antigua and Barbuda on Saturday 10 May 2008, Ministers considered possible dates for signing and the provisional application of the Agreement and reported they were in consultations with the EC on the subject.