KINGSTON, Jamaica – Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community will meet in Special Session in Port of Spain on May 24th to discuss the evolving global economic and financial crisis.
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda made the announcement during the press conference at the end of the 12th Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) which concluded in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday, May 9th.
Prime Minister Spencer, who is also his country’s Foreign Minister, told the media that the meeting is being held against the background of a continuing crisis and also would afford Heads of Government the opportunity to fine tune the Community’s position on the issue in time for the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis scheduled to take place in New York in early June.
Prime Minister Spencer
The global crisis was one of the items on the agenda of the meeting and according to the Chairman of COFCOR, the Honourable Dr Kenneth Baugh, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, the Foreign Ministers agreed to monitor the situation given its foreign policy implications. They also underscored their intention, he said, to advance vigorously the Region’s position on the issue in the relevant international fora. This position had been put forward by the Heads of Government at their Inter-Sessional Meeting in Belize in March.
Dr Baugh reported that the Council met with Mr. Thomas Shannon, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, US Department of State who affirmed the interest of the United States in collaborating with CARICOM on a number of matters including hemispheric relations, trade and investment, security, particularly concerning the illicit trafficking of drugs and of small arms and the implementation of a mechanism to enhance CARICOM-US Dialogue.
The Jamaican Foreign Minister said he and his colleagues expected to meet with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the Organisation of American States (OAS) General Assembly in San Pedro Sula, Honduras next month to further the discussions and set the stage for a Summit between CARICOM Heads of State and Government and the US President in the latter half of 2009.
Dr Baugh said the Ministers agreed on the need to carry forward to the OAS General Assembly, the decisions emanating from the successful Fifth Summit of the Americas recently concluded in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Ministers also discussed relations with Canada, the European Union and the Dominican Republic as well as issues arising in International Organisations. With respect to the Dominican Republic the Council received a report from a CARICOM Task Force which had been established to look at closer relations between CARICOM and that country. Minister Baugh said that the Dominican Republic had applied for membership of CARICOM while the Task Force was engaged in its work. He said that now there was a need for further work to be done to better inform a decision on that application.
The chairman said that COFCOR endorsed the proposal emanating from the Fifth Summit of the Americas for the establishment of a hemispheric development fund for Haiti. The Meeting agreed to hold consultations with the relevant stakeholders with a view to having the proposal tabled at the OAS General Assembly next month and for the issue of an appropriate resolution on the matter by the General Assembly.
