Salutations
We are today convened for the fourth time in seven months; the frequency of our meetings a clear indication of the ever increasing intensity and complexity of the challenges facing our region today.
Colleague Heads of Government and Heads of Delegation, Mr. Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Honourable Ministers of Government and other Government Officials, Delegates, Members of the CARICOM Secretariat and Representatives of Caribbean Institutions, Ladies and Gentlemen.
We, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, meeting in Special (Emergency) Session in The Bahamas, 11-12 October, 2001, to undertake consultations on the grave situation confronting our nations as a consequence of the terrorist attacks in the United States of America on 11 September 2001 and its aftermath:
Recognise that these dastardly acts have exacerbated an incipient global economic crisis which threatened international peace and security.
The Caribbean Community Secretariat has been informed about the death on 11 September 2001 in Belize of Judge Edward A. Laing, Member of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea and former Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations, the Organisation of American States, and High Commissioner to Canada, at the age of 59.
The Community Council of Ministers, the second highest decision-making body of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), will this week address a range of issues critical to the upcoming deliberations of the CARICOM Heads of Government Summit scheduled for the Bahamas from 3 - 6 July, 2001.
The status of implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) as well as the establishment of two committees to take the implementation process forward are top agenda items for the Eight Meeting of the Council slated for Thursday, 14 June, 2001 in Kingston, Jamaica.
Belize and Guatemala have made progress in dealing with the illegal Guatemalan settlements in Belize but the two countries still have a long way to go in resolving their 150-year-old territorial dispute.
"We have made progress in dealing with illegal Guatemalan settlements in Belizean territory, but there are elements in Guatemala that are still talking about the recovery of Belize," said Prime Minister Said Musa.
Heads of Government were informed that experts from the Pan American Institute of Geography and History (PAIGH) have determined the precise coordinates of the reference markers at Gracias a Dios, Garbutt's Falls and at the Mexican frontier in the north, the three points referred to in the 1859 "Convention between Great Britain and Guatemala relative to the Boundary of British Honduras"; and that they have drawn a line between these points on a map to show the line that divides the two countries.
Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and CANADA, at their Sixth Summit Meeting at Montego Bay, Jamaica, on 19 January 2001,
Having considered recent developments in Belize-Guatemala relations;
Welcoming the fact that on 8 November, 2000 Belize and Guatemala signed an Agreement on Confidence Building Measures witnessed by the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States;
The Tenth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development [COTED] of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) received information from the Minister representing Belize on recent developments in the Belize-Guatemala border dispute.
Parliamentarians from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will this week journey to Belize for the Third Meeting of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) which will take place in Belize City from 17 to 20 November 2000.