Representatives from across the Region gather in Grenada on October 14 and 15 for the Second Sitting of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP).
His Excellency Sir Daniel Williams, Governor General of Grenada will declare the proceedings open at the Grenada Grand Beach Resort and Convention Centre during a ceremony which begins at 9 a.m on October 14. The Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Hon. Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has been invited to address the opening. Other speakers include the Prime Minister of Grenada, Dr. the Honourable Keith Mitchell and CARICOM Secretary-General, Mr Edwin Carrington.
The Order Paper for the two day-session is expected to include items related to the Caribbean Court of Justice, The Caribbean in The 21st Century, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, West Indies Cricket, Human Resource Development, Crime and the Region’s External Relations. The Agreement establishing the ACCP does not allow debate on domestic matters. The Hon. Sir Curtis Strachan KT; CVO., Speaker of the Grenada House, is expected to preside over the Parliament.
The ACCP, agreed to by the X Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government at Grand Anse, Grenada in 1989, is the brainchild of former Barbados Prime Minister Mr Erskine Sandiford. It was established in 1994 and is a deliberative body which comprises parliamentarians from both sides of the floor. Each Member State of CARICOM is allowed a maximum of four representatives while Associate Members are allowed two.
The first session of the parliament was held on May 27, 1996 in Barbados and when that session convened, the ACCP became the fourth Regional Parliament in the hemisphere. The others are the Andean Parliament, the Central American Parliament and the Latin American Parliament which is the oldest of the four having first convened in 1965. The European Parliament is the oldest regional Parliament in the world having started in 1952.
This year’s session comes in the wake of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meeting in Trinidad and Tobago in September and will coincide with the ACP-EU Joint Assembly scheduled for October 11-15 in The Bahamas. It also follows the deliberation of a Youth ACCP which was held in The Bahamas in October 1998 as part of the 25th Anniversary celebrations of the Caribbean Community.
The ACCP session comes less than two weeks before the Seventh Special Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community scheduled for Trinidad and Tobago on October 26-27.
