[Salutations]
It is customary on occasions like these for us to remind ourselves of the times in which we are gathered. This 27th Special Meeting of COTED is being opened here this morning against the background of a global food crisis, precipitated by spiralling commodity prices worldwide, and characterized by Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, as a “ Silent Tsunami”.
Ladies and Gentlemen_
Dr. The Honourable, Christopher Tufton, Minister of Agriculture of Jamaica
Honourable Robert Persaud, Minister of Agriculture of Guyana
Other Honourable Ministers
Senior Officials
Representatives of Regional and International Institutions
Other Delegates
Colleagues of the CARICOM Secretariat
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
(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.
Her Excellency Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of COFCOR, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer
Honourable Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Attorney-General of Belize and Outgoing Chariman of COFCOR
Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica
Honourable Ministers
Members of Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda
Assistant Secretary-General of the OAS, His Excellency Albert Ramdin
Her Excellency Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of COFCOR, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer
Honourable Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Attorney-General of Belize and Outgoing Chariman of COFCOR
Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Dominica
Honourable Ministers
Members of Parliament of Antigua and Barbuda
Assistant Secretary-General of the OAS, His Excellency Albert Ramdin
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Three Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministerial Councils will meet this week as the Community intensifies its preparations for the 29th Regular Meeting of the Heads of Government to be held in Antigua and Barbuda in July.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The two-day meeting of the G77 High Level Panel of Eminent Personalities on a Development Platform for the South which took place in Antigua and Barbuda ended on Wednesday 30 April, 2008, with a comprehensive discussion on South-South co-operation.
His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
The Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport
Other Ministers of Government
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Directors of Culture
Members of the Interim Festival Directorate of CARIFESTA
Members of the Artistic Community
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen