This past year has demonstrated in no uncertain terms the value of the Caribbean regional integration project to our Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the influence that our united front can wield in the international arena.
Representatives of the Georgetown-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat recently visited East Berbice/Corentyne, Guyana, as part of efforts to strengthen relations with the Guyanese community.
The team of officials visited the locally and internationally acclaimed Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), St. Francis Community Developers (SFDC) to observe the organisation’s work.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown) CARICOM Secretary-General, Amb. Irwin LaRocque, in his end-of-year message, reiterated the value of the integration movement in providing an improved standard of living for CARICOM citizens.
The provision of an even better service to citizens was at the core of our Community’s efforts, he said. These included delivery of better health systems, improving the ease of doing business; and creating the avenues for investment and jobs.
“We saw our Community operating as its best on the international front in Paris. The coordination was superb and I want to say hats off to our negotiators – our technical negotiators led by Minister James Fletcher, the Minister of Sustainable Development of St. Lucia, and of course the role played by all our Ministers and Heads of Government. I was there feeling very proud of the coordination. We were of a single mind. We were one body with several parts working together in unison to achieve a set of goals.”
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Wednesday urged the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to join a successful year for multilateral diplomacy by delivering trade deals which will drive global economic growth and uplift the poor.
Jamaica’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator A.J. Nicholson made the call in his address, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to the plenary session of the Tenth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador LaRocque has congratulated Dr. Ralph Gonsalves on his party’s victory in the recent elections in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and his re-election to office as the nation’s leader.
Dr. Gonsalves’ Unity Labour Party (ULP) won eight of the 15 seats at stake in the December 9 general elections to register the party’s fourth consecutive victory at the polls.
Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Rt. Honourable Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados, has applauded the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The adoption in Paris on Saturday, 12 December 2015, followed the conclusion of the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
There are elements in this document for which our CARICOM countries are grateful. The increased ambition of the Agreement, as reflected by the reference to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, is a significant achievement that has already started to resonate with ‘positive vibrations’ throughout the Caribbean.
Please see video of CARICOM Secretary-General’s address to the High Level Segment of COP 21 at this link:
Special Envoy for the Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) Mr. Stefan Knights met CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque at COP 21 in Paris, France, Thursday.