The Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) - comprising the Chairman (the Prime Minister of Grenada), the Immediate Past Chairman (the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda), the Next Chairman (the President of Suriname) and the Secretary-General - has arrived at a recommendation on the Community's relations with the Interim Administration of Haiti.
Haiti
In keeping with the decision taken by Heads of Government at their 25th Regular Meeting in Grenada 4-7 July, the 18th meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be held at Grand Anse, Grenada on Wednesday (July 28) to receive the report of the CARICOM Ministerial team which visited Haiti earlier this month. The Bureau is comprised of the Chairman (The Prime Minister of Grenada), the Outgoing Chairman (The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda), the Incoming Chairman (The President of Suriname), and the Secretary General.
In keeping with the decision taken by Heads of Government at their 25th Regular Meeting in Grenada 4-7 July, the 18th meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will be held at Grand Anse, Grenada on Wednesday (July 28) to receive the report of the CARICOM Ministerial team which visited Haiti earlier this month. The Bureau is comprised of the Chairman (The Prime Minister of Grenada), the Outgoing Chairman (The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda), the Incoming Chairman (The President of Suriname), and the Secretary General.
The Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) wishes to inform that, in accordance with the decision taken by CARICOM heads of Government at their recent conference in Grenada "to create a channel of engagement with the interim administration of Haiti", a delegation of CARICOM foreign ministers will be visiting Haiti 13-14 July 2004.
CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington today reacted with surprise and some disappointment to reports in sections of the regional media that CARICOM had "called for the release from detention of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune as one of the conditions for recognition of the Interim Administration in Haiti, as well as for a date certain for elections". Secretary-General Carrington was categorical, stating,
The Secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) wishes to inform that, in accordance with the decision taken by CARICOM heads of Government at their recent conference in Grenada "to create a channel of engagement with the interim administration of Haiti", a delegation of CARICOM foreign ministers will be visiting Haiti 13-14 July 2004.
CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington today reacted with surprise and some disappointment to reports in sections of the regional media that CARICOM had "called for the release from detention of former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune as one of the conditions for recognition of the Interim Administration in Haiti, as well as for a date certain for elections". Secretary-General Carrington was categorical, stating,
Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Hon. Baldwin Spencer has assured that diplomatic relations between Haiti and many Members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) remain intact, but said that the return to constitutional and democratic processes that underpin Haiti's development are prerequisites for participation in the Councils of the Regional grouping by its newest Member State.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington today vehemently denied statements attributed to him in an Agence France Presse (AFP) report of 22 June on Haiti's relations with the Community.
Mr. Carrington is reported by AFP to have said that the Prime Minister of Haiti's Transitional Government, Mr. Gerard Latortue needed "to reconsider his country's withdrawal from the regional organization" and that "Haiti has to recreate the atmosphere which it destroyed."
The Seventeenth Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with participation by the Core Group on Haiti, was held at the Office of the Prime Minister, St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda on 4-5 May 2004, under the Chairmanship of Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government.