The Community Council of Ministers, the second highest organ of CARICOM met on Monday under the chairmanship of the Hon. Osborne Riviere, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Marketing of Dominica in Georgetown, Guyana. Its priority issue was the consideration of the arrangements including the agenda for the upcoming 14th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government scheduled for Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on February 14 and 15. That meeting will be preceded on February 13 by a Special Consultation on Options for Governance to Accelerate the Process of Regional Integration, which is being organized by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI). Heads of Government and Regional representatives of Civil Society have been invited to participate in this Consultation.
CARICOM Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin Carrington in opening the Meeting of the Council, pressed his theme of accelerated implementation as the Community enters its 30th Anniversary, as he did at the recently concluded 14th Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). Noting that while CARICOM can justifiably claim to be the longest surviving integration movement among developing countries and given the prevailing regional and international environment, he stressed the need to accelerate the implementation of its many programmes. Against that background, he pointed to a number of important steps taken, including efforts at reorganizing the functioning of the Secretariat itself, in order to speed up implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The Secretary-General informed the 11th Meeting of the Council that the establishment of the Single Market Unit office in Barbados, last October and the Legal Drafting Facility in Guyana less than a month ago, were critical steps towards enabling Member States to honour their obligations to implement the Community’s flagship activity, the CSME. When to these is added the CARICOM Office established in Haiti to assist the Community’s newest Member State to assume its CARICOM responsibilities, the process of re-organisation to meet the Community’s new objectives is seen to be well underway. Additional processes are afoot including the integration of the CARIFORUM Secretariat with the CARICOM Secretariat, he added.
The Secretariat has been assisted in these initiatives by major donor agencies and countries involved in the Region’s development effort.
The Council also endorsed the programme for bringing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) into operation. The CCJ, with its headquarters in Trinidad and Tobago, is expected to be inaugurated in the latter half of 2003.
During the one-day Meeting, the Council also received reports from a number of Community Organs, Institutions and bodies, which have been involved in a flurry of meetings since the year began preparatory to the Inter-Sessional Meeting. These included the COTED and the Bureau of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR). Both met in Georgetown on the weekend and submitted issues to the Council for consideration for inclusion on the agenda of the Inter-Sessional Meeting. Key among them, are the CSME including the CCJ, and international issues including the situations in Iraq and in Venezuela.
The Council was also provided with a preview of the issues, which the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP), will be discussing in Port-of-Spain from February 9-11. Important among these are the CARICOM Stabilisation Fund and the Regional Economic Transformation Programme arising from the Heads of Government Special Meeting in Saint Lucia last August. It is expected that the COFAP will report on these matters to the Inter-Sessional Meeting.
A subject of critical importance, which will also feature on the agenda of the Inter-Sessional is the growing incidence of crime in Member Sates. A report on this issue was submitted to the Council following a meeting of the Crime and Security Task Force in Port-of-Spain on January 30-31.
The Council also approved the 2003 Budget and Work Programme of the Secretariat and endorsed the Programme of activities to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of CARICOM. That programme will be launched with a gala cultural performance at the St Augustine Campus of the UWI on February 13, 2003 after a pre-launch lecture entitled Our Caribbean Civilisation and its Prospects at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel at 7.30 pm on Wednesday February 12 by Dr the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Meeting extended its sympathy to the families and the nations who lost their loved ones in the recent Columbia Shuttle disaster.
