Montserrat

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman, the Hon. Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago will on Wednesday December 29, 1999 officially hand over 15 houses to the people of Montserrat. This comprises the first phase of the CARICOM Village being built by the Caribbean Community for the residents of the volcano-stricken Community Member State.

The Hon. David Brandt, Chief Minister of Montserrat will receive the houses, which are located at Lookout on the North of the island, on behalf of the people of Montserrat.

The Chief Minister of Montserrat, the Honourable David Brandt, has praised his CARICOM colleagues for the support given to Montserrat. He specifically referred to the building of houses on the island since the disruption caused by the Lang Soufriere volcano.

Speaking on the first working day of the 20^th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, held in Trinidad and Tobago, the Chief Minister reminded that Montserrat has had a hard time since the Lang Soufriere volcano started to act up about four years ago.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)  Protocol II of the Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community, the Treaty of Chaguaramas, can now be provisionally applied in Member States of the Caribbean Community. This is now possible as Montserrat signed the Protocol and Suriname made its signature of the Protocol effective on 4 July, 1998, the final day of the 19th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. The venue for the Meeting was Castries, Saint Lucia.