Press Releases

The CARICOM Secretariat today announced the retirement at the end of 1999 of Mr Cyril Egbert Berridge, long-serving Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization (CMO).

The Caribbean Meteorological Organization, with headquarters in Trinidad, is one of the oldest Caribbean institutions. It originated out of the old British Caribbean Meteorological Service, which was established in 1951. After the break-up of the Federation and the independence of most islands, the Caribbean Meteorological Service was transformed into the CMO in 1972.

The CARICOM Secretariat and the University of the West Indies (UWI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) aimed at fostering greater co-operation between the two Institutions.

CARICOM Secretary-General Mr Edwin Carrington signed on behalf of the Secretariat and Principal of UWI's Mona Campus, Professor Kenneth Hall signed on behalf of the University at a ceremony on Tuesday 7 December 1999, at the Bank of Guyana Headquarters of the Secretariat.

The Caribbean Community was stunned on Friday by the news that Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte had died. The sudden nature of his passing in far away Sydney, Australia was all the more shocking coming so soon after the death of his legendary countryman Malcolm Marshall.

His death, at 67, is especially untimely given his relatively recent return to the Region and his even more recent elevation to service in the administration of cricket in his native Barbados.

Plans for the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are expected to be further advanced at a meeting in Jamaica on 6 December 1999.

Attorney General of Barbados the Hon. David Simmons Q.C, chairman of the Preparatory Committee on the Caribbean Court of Justice (PrepCom) will preside over its third meeting as the Committee discusses the instruments for the establishment of the CCJ, issues relating to the cost of operating the Court, a Regional Public Education Programme and preparations by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to house the Court.

Today, World AIDS Day, we focus on one of the most pressing issues of concern in the Caribbean and the wider world_ the increasing number of persons infected with the deadly virus HIV/AIDS.

The Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has learnt with great sadness of the passing of Dr. Douglas Hall, Professor of History at the University of the West Indies.

Professor Hall, a Jamaican, was a distinguished Historian at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies and many of the Secretariat's staff, including the Secretary-General had the good fortune to benefit from his tutelage.

The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community, Dr. Kaire Mbuende, held consultations with the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mr. Edwin Carrington, in Gaborone, Botswana, on 16 November 1999. The Chief Executives were accompanied by their Senior Officials.