(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)  CARICOM Secretary General Mr Edwin Carrington has alerted the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that the Community will need support in the process of preparing Haiti for integration into CARICOM.

The Secretary General was speaking at the start of a week-long review by the CARICOM Secretariat and UNDP of a Technical Co-operation Programme. Mr Carrington told the three-member UNDP team led by Chief of the Caribbean Division Ms Gillian Lindsay-Nanton that the incorporation of Haiti was one of the priorities of the Community.

Haiti was accepted as a full member of CARICOM during the recent XVIII Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community held at Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Mr Carrington said the co-operation between the two agencies must be undertaken in the context of the Community's development objectives, needs and thrusts. He said the United Nations was committed to helping the needy become increasingly self-reliant.

Ms Lindsay-Nanton, who is accompanied by Mr Neil Pierre and Mr Andrea Tamargnini, agreed that the decline in Overseas Development Assistance made self-reliance very important. She gave an overview of reforms in progress at the UNDP which were designed to make the Organisation leaner and more decentralised. The plan, Ms Lindsay- Nanton said was to give more responsibility to the Resident Representatives in the countries but she pointed out that greater accountability came with that responsibility.

More stress would be placed on evaluation, the UNDP Caribbean Division Chief told the Secretariat staff which included Assistant Secretary-General Regional Trade and Economic Integration, Mr Byron Blake, Director Human Development, Ms Jacqulyn Joseph, Director Corporate Services, Mr Joseph Farier and Adviser Single Market and Sectoral Programmes Ms Desiree Field-Ridley.

Ms Lindsay-Nanton took the opportunity to state her organisation's "unswerving commitment to support the building of capacity in the Region." She said the priorities at this time were poverty alleviation, the advancement of women, and job creation all in the context of good governance.