KINGSTON, Jamaica – With Jamaica being designated the hub for coordinating CARICOM’S response to the Haitian crisis in the areas of providing relief assistance and long term rehabilitation, a CARICOM team will be arriving in the island for a meeting tonight (Thursday) with the Hon. Prime Minister following his return from Haiti.
Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Dominica, Hon. Roosevelt Skerritt will head the team. Other members are: Prime Minister of Barbados, Hon. David Thompson; Secretary General of CARICOM, H. E. Edwin Carrington; Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev. John Holder and representatives of CARICOM’s Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
The team is scheduled to depart for Haiti tomorrow morning (Friday morning) in advance of a CARICOM team of technical experts comprised of representatives of the CARICOM secretariat, Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) the Regional Security System (RSS); and the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC). Within the CDEMA operational structure Haiti falls in a sub-regional grouping for which Jamaica serves as the focal point.
In the light of Jamaica’s coordinating role, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Hon. Dr. Kenneth Baugh, who is also Chairman of CARICOM’s Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR), reiterated that Jamaica was” ready to do all within our power” to provide relief and assistance to Haiti which was devastated by an earthquake on Tuesday.
Jamaica will be continue to work actively with CARICOM to ensure that the programme of bringing relief and assistance is effectively implemented. Bilateral efforts, will also continue to be pursued with our good neighbours Haiti, the Foreign Affairs Minister said.
