(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The Fifth Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP) takes place on 31 October to 2 November, in Trinidad and Tobago, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Among the key features of this fifth AGM is the launch of the Pan Caribbean Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS during the opening ceremony in the evening of Monday, 31 October, at which Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Chairman of PANCAP will deliver the keynote address.
Chair of the Business Coalition and President of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), Mr. James Moss-Soloman, UNAIDS Executive Director. Dr. Peter Piot, and Head of the Department for International Development (DFID), Caribbean, Ms. Sandra Pepera will also make presentations. Chairman of the programme is Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat Assistant Secretary-General for Human and Social Development and Vice-Chair of PANCAP, Dr. Edward Greene.
This launch follows the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC)-organised Pan Caribbean Executive Forum on HIV/AIDS, earlier in the day, at which Prime Minister Manning will give the feature address. The Forum brings together business leaders, political representatives, heads of key multilateral institutions and civil society to discuss the impact of the epidemic on business and to arrive at consensus with respect to the strengthening of Caribbean business involvement in the response to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The implications of the Coalition is one of the agenda items of the meeting. Other items include a status report on the implementation of the Caribbean Regional Strategic Framework (CRSF), which focuses on the achievements, challenges and the way forward on work undertaken in the seven priority areas of the framework. The CRSF is essentially the four-year (2002-2006) work programme of the PANCAP.
Engagement with development partners in respect of enhanced collaboration as PANCAP accelerates implementation of the CRSF also forms part of the agenda.
Other agenda items include reports from core partners on HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities; from grant recipients of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and on the activities of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development.
The expanding Champions for Change process features prominently during the meeting and in addition to designating new Champions for Change during the opening ceremony, delegates will receive a report on Champions for Change II: Conference of Faith-based Organisations to Reduce HIV/AIDS Stigma and Discrimination, scheduled for November in Guyana.
The launch on 2 November of the publication: Champions for Change: Reducing HIV/AIDS Stigma in the Caribbean brings the curtain down on this fifth AGM. The publication chronicles the main proceedings of “Champions for Change I”, a regional landmark conference held in November 2004, in St. Kitts and Nevis. It confronts some of the critical issues relating to HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination.
PANCAP, established in 2001, is the mechanism responsible for coordinating the Caribbean’s response to HIV/AIDS pandemic.
