The Seventeenth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) took place in Georgetown, Guyana, on 20-21 May 2014, under the chairmanship of the Honourable Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Guyana.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Thirty-Fourth Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers of the Caribbean Community will deliberate on the third draft of the CARICOM Five-Year Strategic Plan when the Council meets on Thursday 22 May at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown Guyana.
It is a real pleasure for me to welcome you all this morning to the opening ceremony of the 17th Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations of CARICOM. As I welcome our visitors to Guyana, I do so not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of His Excellency President Donald Ramotar and the people of Guyana. For our Special Guests who are visiting for the first time, even though your visit with us will be short, I hope that you would find it an enjoyable and a rewarding experience. We are indeed honoured to host you all.
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR). This annual gathering is the opportunity for the Ministers of Foreign Affairs to look back and take stock of the multiple activities undertaken by the Community in the promotion and protection of its interests. It also provides the occasion to look forward to the prospects by analysing the trends, developments and events which shape the external environment in which our Member States operate.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The CARICOM Secretariat continued to put measures in place to enhance capacity of Member States to implement the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing by hosting its third capacity-building workshop on the issue. The event was held in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity at the CARICOM Secretariat Annex, Georgetown, Guyana.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Spain have identified information and communication technology, the development of Regional micro small and medium enterprises, and the strengthening of a competitive Regional economy as areas of priority that will be pursued under Spain’s technical cooperation agreement with the Community.
I bring you greetings and warm wishes on behalf of the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque. The CARICOM Secretariat is very pleased to be a collaborative partner in this workshop, which represents a continuation of our work to build the capacity of member states to reap a fair and equitable share of benefits generated from the use of their genetic resources and traditional knowledge about those resources.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The quest to place statistics frontally before the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) continues later this month with a high level engagement of stakeholders in St. George’s, Grenada.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Twenty-Sixth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) got underway on Wednesday at the CARICOM Headquarters in Georgetown Guyana. The Council is being chaired by Minister of Health and Social Services from Montserrat, Hon. Colin Riley and is being hosted with support from the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Women and the Caribbean Development Bank.
It gives me great pleasure this morning to welcome you to Guyana on behalf of His Excellency President Donald Ramotar, the Government and people of Guyana.