CHAIRMAN OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY, THE RT. HON HUBERT INGRAHAM, PRIME MINISTER OF THE BAHAMAS
Good Morning to you all. A warm welcome to this Thirteenth Special Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.
It gives me great pleasure as Chair of the Caribbean Community to welcome you all to this very important Special Meeting of the Conference.
Permit me first to thank Prime Minister Patrick Manning our host, not only for the excellent arrangements put in place to receive us but for his primary role in causing the Summit to take place.
Mr. Chairman, H.E. the Secretary General of the Caribbean Community
Honourable Ministers
Distinguished Delegates
Colleagues Representatives from Regional and International Organisations
Staff of the Secretariat of the Caribbean Community
Representatives of the Media, to those of you representing youth media
Ladies and Gentlemen
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat is honoured to salute the women and girls of the Caribbean Community today on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2008. International Women’s Day (IWD) is an occasion to review and reflect on the quest by women for equality, peace and development. It also affords an opportunity to celebrate women’s contributions to the strengthening of democratic governance, justice, peace, security and quality of life.
Honourable Michael Brown, Minister of National Mobilisation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Chairman of the Council for Finance and Planning;
Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Dominica;
Other Distinguished Ministers of Finance;
Other Distinguished Ministers;
Central Bank Governors and Deputy Governors;
Representatives of Regional and International Organisations;
Distinguished Delegates and Officials;
Representatives of the Media;
Ladies and Gentlemen_
Thank you, Mr. Chairman
Hon. Clive Mullings, President of CTU and Minister of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications of Jamaica
Hon. Terry Lister, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce of Bermuda
Other Ministers of Government
Dr. Hamadoun Toure, Secretary-General of the ITU
Ms. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary-General of CTU
Delegates, Representatives of Member States and the Private Sector
Representatives of the Media
Hon. Clive Mullings, President of CTU and Minister of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications of Jamaica
Hon. Terry Lister, Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce of Bermuda
Other Ministers of Government
Dr. Hamadoun Toure, Secretary-General of the ITU
Ms. Bernadette Lewis, Secretary-General of CTU
Delegates, Representatives of Member States and the Private Sector
Representatives of the Media
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) A series of key meetings of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), including the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Heads of Government in Nassau, The Bahamas, will be held within the next ten days.
Among them is the Meeting of the Reflections Group on the CARIFORUM/EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that was initialed last December in Barbados. The Reflections Group will meet in Kingston, Jamaica on 28-29 February 2008.
Good morning Dear colleagues from Haiti, CIDA and the CARICOM Secretariat. A special good morning to our colleagues in the CSME Unit in Barbados who have joined us by videoconference.