This is to better position the people of the region for today's global challenges, officials said.

This is the council's second meeting for this year as the region continues to develop a conceptual framework that is applicable to the major sectoral areas for the purpose of creating a viable knowledge-based environment.

In this regard, COHSOD VII will focus on establishing priorities for a programme of work to support ongoing national and regional HRD initiatives and Human and Social Development.

The three-day meeting of COHSOD VII is being held at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel and has attracted delegations from all CARICOM member states.

CARICOM Assistant Secretary General with responsibility for Human and Social Development, Dr. Edward Greene, in his presentation at yesterday's opening session, appealed to member states to regularise the national COHSODs as important devices for achieving synergy between national and regional social sector activities, as well as a more efficient and cost-effective system of programme delivery.

He noted that issues and challenges for HSD for the 2002-2003 period will emerge out of the discussions and recommendations from this COHSOD meeting and will influence the construction of the work programme of the Directorate of Human and Social Development for 2003-2004.

Among the challenges is the overall objective to redefine the thrust of the work programme to further consolidate the inter-sectoral approach, Greene told the large gathering.

According to him, the conceptualisation and delivery of programmes would be enhanced if these are anchored in the objectives of sustainable development.

Greene noted that sustainable development is about moving forward and taking a different approach to managing, and directing change that balances the social, economic and environmental impacts of people's actions.

"In this regard, a focus on the sustainable development approach is one that looks at the needs of the future generations as well as those of people today, and seeks to avoid problems in the future by acting today. It takes into account the environment and its capacity to support human activity in all decisions (and) it balances the importance of individual rights with collective responsibility," Greene said.

"It is planned more on the basis of cooperation between experts and ordinary people, who stand to be marginalised (and) we recognised the difficulty in mounting such an approach because so much emphasis is given to the protection of turf -- whether it is community, department, division or nation.

"But in the context of this global system I leave you/us to ponder the question during our deliberations. If not an integrated, inter-sectoral sustainable development approach, what?"

Guyana's Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Ms. Gail Teixeira, who is acting as Minister of Foreign Affairs, addressed the opening ceremony and urged the meeting to adopt a policy of dialogue and effective collaboration as "we seek to re-position our society and to improve the social standards of our people".

While there is support from various regional and international institutions for regional programmes, if member states are to grapple with these very serious issues, more assistance, and more readily available assistance will be needed, Teixeira said.

The minister, however, warned that these resources must at all times be effectively and efficiently coordinated to be beneficial to member states and their populations.

According to her, the work of the council "cannot be promoted in isolation".

Teixeira also referred to some aspects of the COHSOD agenda that Guyana considers to be priorities for the region.

"We must encourage the evolution of a well-equipped, relevantly educated, resourceful, youthful population capable of operating effectively in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and the new global dispensation. (And) this will require changes in our educational systems and pedagogical methodology, diversification of economic activity and the concomitant skills," she said.

This approach, the Guyanese Minister said, will demand the involvement of governments, the development of private sector entities as corporate citizens, the support of religious leaders and the media, among others.

She also recognised the need to ensure that regional integration is "not just rhetoric" but that people access the best that this region has to offer. "And this region has much to offer," she pointed out.

Teixeira noted that the COHSOD meeting is being convened at a critical juncture in the region's development.

"Indeed, it seems that the very existence of our societies seems to be under severe threat -- intensification of sophisticated criminal activity sometimes motivated by the upsurge in drug-trafficking; the increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS; the evident downturn in our economies and even the inundation by our unprepared societies for the high levels of deportation from the North. At the same time, the region continues to witness the increased departure of our skilled working population to the more developed countries," she said.

"It is therefore the mandate of this Council from its conception to promote and develop policies and programmes aimed at the enhancement of human and social development in our community," Teixeira posited.

"This, then, is the onerous task that we assume to ensure that the work of this body is made more coherent and relevant to the peoples of this region and for the improvement in the quality of their lives and the development and modernisation of this region (so that it is) capable of taking on the challenges of globalisation," she said.

Economic development and the enhancement of trade, while having always been the principal focus of the region, assumes even greater proportions particularly with the advent of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and the approaching Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the minister noted.