Press Releases

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Caribbean Community, Barbados Prime Minister the Rt. Honourable Owen Arthur has strongly urged the Community to expedite the adoption of the Girvan/Special Task Force report titled :”Towards A Single Economy And a Single Development Vision.”

The new CARICOM Chairman, in his keynote address at the CARICOM Summit in Barbados, said the report would serve as the basis for decisions by Heads of Government on a road map for the implementation of the Single Economy in 2008.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) In reviewing his stewardship as CARICOM Chairman for the past six months, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves said, while much has been accomplished, there is still work to be done, especially on the second phase of the implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Caribbean Community, the Rt. Honourable Owen Arthur wants corrective mechanisms to be implemented to curtail any inequitable distribution of the benefits of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

In delivering his keynote address at the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, in Barbados, 1-4, July 2007, Chairman Arthur said the establishment of the CSME has brought with it, attendant challenges, which have to be addressed expeditiously.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis told media representatives in Barbados that more CARICOM Member States needed to have access to the US President’s Fund for HIV/AIDS.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Immediate past chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Dr, the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, has made an impassioned plea to his fellow CARICOM Heads of States to throw their support behind the regional carrier, Leeward Island Air Transport (LIAT).

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Acting Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Stephenson King says, his country’s commitment to the ideals of regionalism and to the deepening of the integration process of CARICOM will increase.

Speaking at the official Opening Ceremony of the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in Barbados on 1 July Mr King said the change of Government in Saint Lucia last December did not change the country’s “posture in relation to the Caribbean Community.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Immediate past chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Dr, the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, has made an impassioned plea to his fellow CARICOM Heads of States to throw their support behind the regional carrier, Leeward Island Air Transport (LIAT).

The Rt. Honourable Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community and Mrs. Arthur
Your Excellencies the Presidents of Guyana and of Haiti
Other Distinguished Heads of Government and Representatives of the Member States and Associate Members of the Caribbean Community
Honourable Ministers
The Speaker and Other Members of Parliament
Congressman Charles Rangel, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives and Special Guest of the Community

Mr. Chairman, Caricom Secretary General, Colleague Prime Ministers, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my greatest pleasure at this time to be addressing this, the Opening Ceremony of the Twenty-Eighth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. For me it’s an added privilege to be doing so here in Barbados , one of Saint Lucia ’s closer Caribbean neighbours.

Mr. Chairman, I recognise very specially the Prime Minister of the Bahamas , the Honourable Hubert Ingraham, who was recently re-elected to his Office after a voluntary five-year respite from his Prime Ministerial perch. He had welcomed me to the Bahamas at my first Heads of Government Conference in July 2001. I now reciprocate. Prime Minister Ingraham is a veteran of CARICOM; his wisdom and experience will no doubt assist us in charting the most efficacious way forward.