(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Seventeenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will convene in Trinidad and Tobago from 9-10 February.
High on the agenda for deliberation among Heads of Government are issues related to the CARICOM Single Market, including the completion of arrangements for participation by Member States, and to bring the Development Fund into operation.
With the CARICOM Single Market coming into being on 1 January, the Conference is expected to receive a report from the Barbados Prime Minster; the Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur, on the progress towards the establishment a framework for the Single Economy which the leaders have earmarked for completion by 2008. Prime Minister Arthur is the Lead Head of Government with Responsibility for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
The issue of Free Movement of Skilled Persons including the possible expansion of this category of eligible Community nationals is also expected to be put to Heads of Government for consideration. In addition, the Conference will give attention to matters related to crime and security, the Community’s external trade negotiations, and agriculture, with specific regard to the Jagdeo Initiative, which is a list of agriculture issues put forward by the President of Guyana His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo who has responsibility for Agriculture within CARICOM. The Initiative seeks to strengthen Regional Agriculture and its contribution to the regional economy and lessen the Region’s reliance on imported food.
Discussions will also be held on the situation in Haiti, with the meeting being convened two days after elections scheduled for 7 February in that country. A CARICOM observer team will be in Haiti under the umbrella of the international observer mission for those elections.
The Heads of Government are also expected to receive an update on the state of West Indies Cricket and preparations for the ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 and a report on the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network (CKLN).
The Inter Sessional Meeting will be preceded by the 3rd CARICOM Stakeholders Meeting on Sugar on 6 February, the Thirteenth Special Meeting of CARICOM’s Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on 7 February, and a Meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations on 8 February. Recommendations arising from discussions at those meetings will be put before the Heads of Government.
Of particular importance will be discussions related to the decision last November by the European Union in respect of the Sugar Protocol which governs the trade in that commodity between the EU and the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of Nations. The Europeans announced a 36 per cent price reduction over 4 years, starting in July 2006.
The COTED will examine the Region’s external trade negotiations with emphasis on the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference, which took place last December in Hong Kong. The Council will be invited to note the major decisions, mandates and deadlines emanating from the WTO meeting and make recommendations to Heads of Government on the way forward in those negotiations for the Caribbean.
