A Vision for the Community in the 21st Century will be the main focus of The Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community when it convenes for the Seventh Special Meeting in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago on October 26-27, 1999.
It will be an unprecedented fourth Meeting of the Conference in a calendar year and the last for the century. Fittingly, it will be held at the birthplace of the Community, the Chaguaramas Convention Centre. The three earlier meetings were the Tenth Intersessional in Suriname last March; the Sixth Special Meeting in Santo Domingo in April and the XX regular session in Port-of-Spain, in July.
The agenda item entitled “Concluding the Twentieth Century/Commencing the Twenty-First” consists of two parts, ‘A vision for the Community in the early twenty-first century’ and ‘Strengthening of the Community institutions’. Earlier discussions had taken place on these issues at Saramacca, Suriname during a retreat at which the Heads of Government met with representatives of the Community’s Youth. The young people had produced their own vision for the Region at a Youth Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians held in The Bahamas in October 1998 as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Community.
Prior to the two-day Special Meeting, the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Relations will meet also at Chaguaramas on October 25. This meeting comes shortly before the meeting of hemispheric Trade Ministers on matters relating to the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in Toronto, Canada, and the Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Seattle, USA. A report from the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee will go before the Conference.
The Heads of Government will take the opportunity to continue discussions on urgent matters arising from the July meeting including Cricket, the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the CARICOM Village in Montserrat. They will also be updated on progress towards establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Critical issues arising out of Reports from the Councils of Finance and Planning (COFAP) and Trade and Economic Development (COTED) will also engage the leaders attention as well as a report from the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, the Rt Hon. Sir James Mitchell on the Mission he led to Haiti from July 18-24 at the request of the Conference.
