The Eighteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, on 12-14 February 2007 under the Chairmanship of Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government. Other Heads of Government in attendance were_ Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Hon. Baldwin Spencer; Prime Minister of Barbados, Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur; Prime Minister of Dominica, Hon.
Intersessional Meeting of the Conference
Mr. Chairman
Distinguished Heads of State and Government
Delegates_
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer, is unable to be here with us in St. Kitts & Nevis for this meeting.
He has asked me to convey his sincere regret to his colleagues and to the meeting at being unable, two days after a general election, to take himself away from the urgent tasks involved in forming a government. He sends his best wishes for successful deliberations.
The situation in Haiti will top the agenda as Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meet in St Kitts and Nevis for the Fifteenth Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference.
Salutations
We are today convened for the fourth time in seven months; the frequency of our meetings a clear indication of the ever increasing intensity and complexity of the challenges facing our region today.
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.