The Twenty-Eighth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held at Georgetown, Guyana, on 16-17 February 2017. The President of Guyana, His Excellency Brigadier (Ret’d) David Granger, chaired the proceedings.
The reform process that is underway in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is working towards a Results Based Management (RBM) system that will measure the tangible results of regional integration mechanisms.
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque highlighted this move when he addressed the opening ceremony of the Twenty Eight Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government at the Marriot Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana on Thursday 16 February 2017.
Childhood obesity continues to be a serious public health concern in the Region. Statistics show that more than 30% of our Caribbean adolescents are overweight or obese, and risk developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular diseases later in life. The economic burden of diabetes and hypertension alone is estimated at between 1.4% and 8% of GDP in the Caribbean, thus creating a significant drain on Caribbean economies, and threatening development prospects.
Belize City, Belize, (CRFM)—The coming of the digital age presents novel opportunities for the fisheries and aquaculture sector of the wider Caribbean to build a more robust data and information system. The system would augment the monitoring of production trends and traceability of catches, support more sustainable management regimes through increased people engagement, and facilitate stronger international and regional trade.
CARICOM Member States are part of the global community of nations gathered in Marrakech, Morocco, for this week’s start of the Climate Conference COP22, which is seeking to accelerate implementation of the agreement reached in Paris at COP 21 last December.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat continues its drive to ensure that key stakeholders are knowledgeable about the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and its significant benefits.
While work has been done to articulate the vision for agriculture in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a senior CARICOM Secretariat officials wants the Region to develop a regional strategic plan for agriculture.
Mr. Joseph Cox, Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration at the CARICOM Secretariat stressed that the Region had to treat agriculture as a business and not as a tool for social engineering for excess labour. The Community needed to become competitive in agriculture, he pointed out.
The CARICOM Secretariat along with the Human Resource Development Commission will be hosting a series of national consultations across the Region in its quest to develop a strategy that will shape the future of the Region’s education and human resources.