Chris Dehring, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup (CWC) West Indies 2007 made the call for cooperation from all sectors of societies in the region, during a news conference at the Sandals Grand Hotel, location for Saturday’s Venue Summit 1 being put on by the Venue Assessment team (VAT).

“We have decided to employ a competitive strategy which will bring the best out of Caribbean people and Caribbean nations,” Dehring said.

“We have made hosting matches in 2007 World Cup, an issue of national commitment and we expect, given the type of enthusiasm we have seen to date, that that type of competitive environment will bring creative bids,” Dehring told reporters.

He said the Venue Summit 1 (VS1) was the beginning of the process that will lead to a bid book that will assist bidding territories to come to terms with the requirements of hosting matches in the 2007 World Cup.

“The tender process will hopefully begin in November. Many countries have sent delegations to this venue summit. This is a very important part in the preparation process and the response from the countries has been absolutely fantastic,” Dehring added.

He noted that at least 165 delegates were participating, representing 13 countries, which emphasized that national efforts were needed in preparing venues.

Chairman of the board of the CWC 2007 Rawle Brancker, also spoke at Friday’s news conference and continued to focus on collective efforts and at the same time urged regional territories to work on attitudes in the service sector.

AREAS OF CONCERN

“There are some areas that concern me, like issues of level of service. I would hope that everyone who comes to the Caribbean for the World Cup, will have a good experience beyond their expectations.

“For us to deliver that, we have got work on attitudes that are not consistent with good tourism,” Brancker noted.

“That apart, I think we have the ability to meet all of the physical requirements, and I am pleased to say that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on its own, is sending a representative to the summit to assure member-countries that they would like an opportunity to provide the money for each country to bring their bid to the level required.

VAT director Don Lockerbie also made an appearance at the news conference.

He told reporters the VAT team was responsible for having the best venues selected and developed.

“We have been able to assess existing venues and to look and see what countries are proposing to do - and to come up with strategies that will allow us in the next three and a half years to get these venues developed, so that we can meet the goal to put on the best World Cup ever,” Lockerbie announced.

“The VAT team is in St. Lucia. They begin work with this news conference and they will be updating the delegates on what they should be doing now, and some of the standards expected by the ICC that we are aware of.

“We hope everyone will leave on Sunday with accurate information about what they should be doing,” Lockerbie said.