(Barbados Government Information Services Press Release) CARICOM Chairman, Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, will welcome fellow heads of government to Barbados for the 31st Intersessional Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), from 18-19 February.

Regional leaders will have a packed agenda during the two-day summit, which will be held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St. Michael.

The areas to be examined include the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); the Report on the Commission on the Economy; Engagement with the private sector, labour and civil society; CARICOM Advocacy Against Blacklisting, De-Risking and Withdrawal of Correspondent Banking; and Supporting CARICOM Resilience and  – Update on Matters of Importance for Science and Technology. They will also examine the recommendations from the 25th Meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on External Negotiations.

In caucus, CARICOM Heads of Government will try to find consensus on security matters and border issues between Belize and Guatemala, and Guyana and Venezuela.

Regional leaders are keen to forge stronger links with Africa, and they will also take time to discuss their first CARICOM-African Union Summit to be held in June, as well as the 15th Meeting of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, (UNCTAD), which takes place in Barbados from 18-25 October.

Another key highlight for CARICOM leaders will be the opportunity to bolster multilateralism through an exchange with a special guest.

The Intersessional summit will close with the ratification of a number of decisions made at the two-day caucus, the adoption of the Communiqué, and setting the date for the 41st Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in July in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Caribbean Community has 15 member states – Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. It also has five associate members – Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.