"Success in record time" for CARICOM Summit
By Rickey Singh
Guyana Chronicle
November 15, 2003
CASTRIES---The two-day Caribbean Community special summit which concluded in Saint Lucia yesterday was "a success achieved in record time" for important decisions reached in a spirit of camaraderie inspired by "shared commitment" to regional objectives.
That was the summary conclusion of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, current chairman of CARICOM, who presided over the special meeting of Heads of Government, the first of its kind to have concluded its packed agenda in one and a half days.
Patterson also took the opportunity to stress that while six of the Community's leaders were unable, for illness and other reasons to attend the summit, there was "unanimity" in all decisions taken, with no leader of a delegation expressing any reservation because his or her head of government was absent.
He singled out Prime Minister Owen Arthur for special praise for the "vision and remarkable vigor" with which he has been pursuing arrangements for the creation of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Major issues advanced at the summit, hosted by Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, include:
*Having in place relevant legal and administrative arrangements to operationalize by year-end the first phase of the CSME.
*Inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by April 2004 with all member states of the Community on board.
*Making public three working documents dealing with enhancing effective governance of Community affairs, including the creation of a CARICOM Commission with executive authority.
*Agreement on a consensual brief for the region's delegation of ministers and for next week's Ministerial Meeting in Miami on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) scheduled for November 20-21; and.
*Working out approaches to further enhance CARICOM-USA relations, as well as the Community's relations with Cuba.
A CARICOM Foreign Ministers delegation will be traveling to Washington next week for meetings with the US Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury as well as Congressmen for meetings that will cover a range of issues, including trade and investment and security.
Foreign Ministers of Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Belize are expected to be on the delegation.
On CARICOM-Cuba ties, arrangements for observing the first annual "CARICOM-Cuba Day" of solidarity since the establishment of diplomatic relations 30 years ago.
Further, to "gladly welcome" the offer from the Cuban government of President Fidel Castro to establish a Technical Training Centre for Nursing and other Medical Specialties in a member state of the Community.
It is likely that the centre could be located either in Grenada or Antigua and Barbuda. But the absence from the summit of Grenada's Prime Minister Keith Mitchell influenced a postponement of a final decision.