Member states of CARICOM and the CARICOM Secretariat are in the process of hosting some 21 ministerial, sub-committee and council meetings in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in the run-up to the Fourteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government (HOGs) billed for February 14 and 15.
Twelve of the meetings to cover the period January 23 to February 7 will take place in Guyana and nine in Trinidad and Tobago, CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin Carrington said at a media briefing held at Colgrain House yesterday.
He said the meetings began on January 23 and 24 with the Fifth Meeting of the Budget Committee. That committee, he said arrived at a satisfactory recommendation for a budget for the secretariat for this year. This budget will be presented to the Community Council of Ministers who will meet on February 3 to approve the budget.
Yesterday, the Seventh Meeting of the Working Group on Services Negotiations met at the Main Street Plaza Hotel. They are involved in technical discussions on the CARICOM/ Costa Rica Trade Agreement. That agreement, Carrington said is one which the region hopes to conclude in March this year when the final meeting will take place in Costa Rica.
Over the weekend the secretariat hosted a two-day meeting of the Chief Magistrates in the region to brief them on the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). CARICOM is working towards the inauguration of the court sometime later in the year.
Today and tomorrow, officials will meet preparatory to the Fourteenth meeting of Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). This meeting will take place at Le Meridien Pegasus and the ministerial sessions will take place on January 31 and February 1 also at Le Meridien Pegasus.
Among the others, the Regional Task Force on Crime and Security will be meeting in Georgetown on January 30 and 31 and will add to their discussions travel advisories issued by the United Kingdom, Australia and the United Nations in relation to Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
On the morning of February 2, the Bureau of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) headed by Foreign Minister of St Lucia, Julian Hunte will be meeting at the CARICOM Secretariat.
In the afternoon of February 2, there will be a special meeting of the ministerial team involved in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations. This will be headed by Foreign Affairs Minister of Jamaica, KD Knight.
On February 3 and 4, the Community Council, the second highest body after the Heads of Government will meet at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.
On February 5, there will be a consultation between sugar producers of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group. This will involve representatives from Fiji, Swaziland and regional sugar producers. Carrington said they were preparing a mission to Brazil to consult with the Brazilian authorities over concerns the Brazilians have expressed with respect to the ACP/EU sugar protocol, which is the critical instrument for the region's trade and economic development.
On February 13, the meeting called by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, which Carrington said is now billed as a consultation on options for regional governance to accelerate the integration process, will take place. At that consultation HOGs are invited to a regional meeting at which representatives of the private sector, non-governmental, religious organisations among others will meet in a follow-up to the Forward Together Conference held at Liliendaal last July "in keeping faith with the wider civil society as we try to develop the community," Carrington said.
The meetings will culminate with the Fourteenth Inter-Sessional HOGs meeting on February 14 and 15 where the proposed agenda will be on reviving the regional economy and the implementation of the stabilisation and transformation programme which was launched in St Lucia in August last year. None of the proposed activities, Carrington said, would be completed in a year but would involve processes which the heads would get an update on.
They will also look at the removal of the first set of restrictions that prevent the provision of services and the movement of capital and the rights of establishment; as well as the inauguration of the CCJ later this year.
The Order of the Caribbean Community will also be conferred on last year awardees, former prime ministers of Dominica Dame Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Sir John Compton of St Lucia and economist Lloyd Best of Trinidad and Tobago.