(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Prime Minister of Barbados the Rt Honourable Owen Arthur, who also has the lead portfolio for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and US Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Henry M. Paulson Jr., will deliver the keynote addresses at the Plenary Opening Ceremony of the Conference on the Caribbean which begins in Washington DC, USA on 19 June, 2007.
The three-day ground-breaking event will be held under the theme `Conference on the Caribbean: A 20/20 Vision’. Its highpoint will be the CARICOM-US summit when CARICOM Heads of Government and US President George W. Bush will hold talks on 20 June 2007 at the White House.
The Plenary Session on 19 June, which begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Preston Auditorium, World Bank, will be held under the theme `CARICOM Development in the 21st Century: Economic Growth with Social Equity’.
CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington will be Chairman of that Session. Presentations will also be made by Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and CARICOM Chairman; Mr Juan Jose Daboub, Managing Director, World Bank; Mr. Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); and His Excellency José Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General, Organisation of American States.
The Opening Plenary will be followed by the Joint Private Sector-Experts Session under the theme `International Competitiveness of Caribbean Countries’.
Other events on the packed first day include the Diaspora Forum at the OAS Hall of the Americas under the themes `The Caribbean Disapora in Perspective’ and `Challenges and Opportunities for Caribbean/US Diaspora’ and the opening of the official Art Exhibition at the OAS Hall of Heroes by President of Haiti, His Excellency Rene Preval.
On Day Two, three fora will be held concurrently: the Experts Forum at the World Bank, the Private Sector Dialogue at the IDB and the Diaspora Forum at the OAS. The Experts Forum will comprise sequential sessions under the themes of `Education’, `Health & Gender’, `Security and Competitiveness in a Global Environment’ and `Physical Infrastructure for CARICOM’s Growth and Global Competitiveness’. At the Private Sector Dialogue, the theme for the discussions is `US-Caribbean Trade: Opportunities for Growth’. The Diaspora Forum will examine topics such as `Economic and financial empowerment of Caribbean-US Diaspora’, `Mobilising Caribbean-US Diaspora Skills Knowledge and Professional Networks’, and `Banking on the Future: Engaging the Youth’. Participants will have the opportunity to engage Heads of Government at that forum.
On the morning of the final day of the Conference, there will be a joint Wrap-up Session at the OAS, Hall of the Americas under the theme `CARICOM Development in the 21st Century: The Way Forward.’ The official closing ceremony will be held at the same venue.
