The Sixth Meeting of the Regional Task Force on Crime and Security of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago from October 30 to November 01, 2002.
It was presided over by Mr. Lancelot Selman, Chairman of the Regional Task Force on Crime and Security for the Caribbean Community.
It is my pleasure to be here this afternoon to join you for this closing session of the Seventh Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development, which is dedicated to the presentation of the CARIFESTA VIII Programme by the Surname National CARIFESTA Commission led by Minister Walter Sandriman. I regret that I could not be with you before but as the Deputy Secretary-General would have pointed out in her remarks at the opening session, my absence was unavoidable.
Honorable Ministers
Mrs. Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM and Assistant Secretary General of CARICOM
Permanent Secretaries
Representatives of Ministries
Members of the CARICOM Secretariat
Ladies and Gentlemen
Guests,
On behalf of Suriname and myself I am honoured to represent Suriname, which accede to Chair of the Seventh Meeting of the Council of Human and Social Development at this meeting.
Chairman
Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Carla Barnett
Ministers of Government and Representatives of Member States
Diplomatic Corps
Members of International and Regional Organs
Ladies and Gentlemen
His Excellency the Governor-General and Mrs. Ballantyne
Honourable Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves
Honourable Members of the Council of Ministers of the Caribbean Forum of ACP States
>Honourable Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Island
Representatives of the European Commission
Representatives of the Regional negotiating Machinery
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Delegates
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Mr. Chairman,
Honourable Ministers,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Officials of Member States
Representatives of Regional and International Organisations
Distinguished guests
Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat
Ladies and Gentlemen_
Good Morning.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this important meeting which is essentially a follow up to the UN General Assembly Special Session on the Rights of the Child held in New York in May this year. It also provides an opportunity for the Caribbean to continue the process of building on the previous proposals for a Regional Framework to guide further initiatives in this area.
The Secretariat wishes to acknowledge the support from UNICEF for this meeting and in particular for its sponsorship of the Background paper that will be a focus of the discussions.
ASG, Dr. Edward Greene
Minister Shaddik
Director, Jacqulyn Joseph
Excellencies and Distinguished Participants
The Caribbean Rice Industry stands in the near future, to benefit from an almost 25 million Euro injection from the European Union to assist in moves to become more competitive.
The Region has been promised a cultural feast when the five-day celebrations of CARIFESTA VIII are hosted in Suriname
At a special launching ceremony held in Georgetown Friday last, a Suriname delegation led by Minister of Education and Community Development, Hon. Walter Sandriman unveiled the CARIFESTA logo, announced the slogan and released the jingle for what promises to be a most unique cultural blast, full of energy and diversity. Minister Sandriman called for support from all CARICOM Member States to ensure the success of the festival.