NASSAU, The Bahamas – Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham accepted an invitation from the CARICOM Bureau of Heads of Government to Lead the Community’s new portfolio on Functional Cooperation.
Mr. Ingraham, who is currently CARICOM’s Lead Head on Tourism in the Community’s Quasi-Cabinet, traveled to Bridgetown Barbados to take part in the Meeting of the Bureau of the Conference of Heads of Government on Friday 16th November.
The chairmanship of the new portfolio is slated for ratification during the Conference of Heads Intercessional Meeting which will be held in Nassau in March, 2008.
Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham
At the meeting in Barbados Bureau Heads confirmed that a delegation of CARICOM Members of Parliament would travel to Haiti prior to the end of the year as a part of events planned to mark the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Haitian Parliament.
The Bureau received an update from Ambassador Richard Bernal, Director-General of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) on negotiations toward the conclusion of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between CARICOM States and the European Union.
Heads took note that the negotiations were unlikely to be concluded by the previously anticipated end-December though EPA negotiations are scheduled to resume this month.
Prime Minister Ingraham opined that it might be that like The Bahamas, most CARICOM Member States would prefer to conclude a partial agreement this year and leave the more complex issue of services to be resolved in the New Year.
Bureau Heads reviewed CARICOM positions on matters to be discussed at the upcoming meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kampala, Uganda 21-25 November including development assistance, trade, good governance and climate change.
Of particular interest will be the election of a new Commonwealth Secretary General to succeed outgoing Secretary General Don McKinnon.
Bureau Heads also discussed the importance of representation of the Region at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Bali, Indonesia December 3 to December 14, 2007.
Prime Minister Ingraham assumes the Chairmanship of the Conference of Heads of Government in January, 2008. The other Bureau Heads of Government are the Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados and Chairman of the Conference and the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and outgoing Chairman of the Conference.
