Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States have been mobilised in an all out effort to cushion the global economic downturn, following the 11 September 2001 terrorism attacks on the United States. Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin Carrington made this disclosure in Member State, Saint Lucia, earlier today 15 September 2001.
The CARICOM Secretary-General was at the time addressing officials from the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (CARIFORUM/ACP) countries attending a two-day meeting in the lead-up to the CARIFORUM Ministerial Meeting and Joint Forum with the Ministers and the European Commission, 17 and 18 October 2001 respectively.
The CARICOM Secretary-General, who is also Secretary-General of CARIFORUM, traveled from the Bahamas over the weekend where the Community’s leaders concluded emergency deliberations to set in train a plan of action to put the Region in a firm responsive mode.
According to Mr. Carrington, the Emergency Summit also involved the participation of representatives from the tourism sector, the Region’s main earner of foreign exchange and major employer, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CATO), Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) ,airline and cruise industries, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Region’s Representative to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Mr. Carrington observed too that in light of the changing international situation and the resulting global and regional economic dynamics as a result of the terrorist attacks, the task of the CARIFORIUM deliberations was even more significant, emphasising that the Region’s cooperation with the European Union was even more critical to its development.
The Meeting will be reviewing a range of issues relating to European Cooperation agreement with CARIFORUM countries prior to the Ministerial Meeting, which will examine and review the related policy issues.
The recent devastation suffered by Belize from Hurricane Iris was also noted by the Meeting, and delegates, led by Secretary-General Carrington, observed a minute’s silence for the cruelty and suffering experienced by humanity over the past five weeks.
