Colleague Heads of Government and Heads of Delegation, Mr. Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Honourable Ministers of Government and other Government Officials, Delegates, Members of the CARICOM Secretariat and Representatives of Caribbean Institutions, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Member
The CARICOM Mission to Trinidad and Tobago, led by the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Immediate Past Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), including Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and CARICOM Secretary-General Mr. Edwin Carrington, engaged in a busy round of consultations over the last two days in an attempt to assist in the search for a solution to Trinidad and Tobago's current political difficulties, following the December 10, 2001 elections.
Mr. Chairman
Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados
Other Honourable Ministers
Representatives of the European Union (EU)
EU Deputy Regional Officer
Distinguished Delegate
Representatives of the Private Sector
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Four years ago in Nassau, The Bahamas, this Council held its inaugural meeting. The then Chairman counselled that it behoved us to ensure that this body made certain that the Community could no longer carry on with "business as usual."
Colleague Ministers
Mr. Secretary-General
Government Officials
Members of Staff of the Secretariat
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media
A warm welcome to my colleague Ministers. Please accept my best wishes for the New Year and a pleasant stay in Guyana.
I would like to single out the "New Kids' on the block for special mention and to wish them every success as they go about their day to day activities at home and abroad.
Ambassador Soeknandan presented her Credentials to the Secretary-General of CARICOM , today, 24 January 2002, at the Georgetown-based Headquarters of the Secretariat.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Her Excellency Manorma P. Soeknandan, Ambassador of the Republic of Suriname to the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Caribbean Community is a lawyer by profession.
It is indeed an honour and distinct pleasure to receive the Letter of Introduction from the Honourable Minister for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Julian Hunte appointing His Excellency Anthony Severin as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Saint Lucia to the Caribbean Community.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is spear-heading an all-out effort to get the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) back on stream, mobilising support from various sectors of civil society to shore-up the efforts of the executive body of the regional media house.
A special emergency meeting of CARICOM Ministers responsible for Information will be convened in Antigua and Barbuda on Monday, 28 January 2002, to hammer out a course of action to ensure the resumption and sustainability of the functioning of the CMC.
The Third Meeting of the Project Management Group for the European Union-funded project on "Strengthening the Institutional Response to HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean" was convened at the Hilton Hotel in Trinidad and Tobago from 17-18 January, 2002.
The Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government met in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands on 10-11 January 2002 and considered the current political situation in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Members of the Bureau expressed the concern felt throughout the Community at the present situation and were anxious to see a return to normalcy in that key Community Member State. They also felt that the Community owes it to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and to the wider Caribbean Community as well, to do whatever lies within its capacity to help bring about that normalcy.
Caribbean governments have agreed to implement an aggressive advertising programme to get tourism, the main foreign exchange earner for a number of countries, back on track following the decline in arrivals after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
This was a major decision emerging from the Summit on Tourism held at Atlantis Resort, Paradise Island, The Bahamas 8-9 December 2001, under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Rt. Hon Hubert Ingraham.