CARICOM-UN SG engagement to lead-up to CARICOM Summit

A High-Level Strategic Dialogue between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government and the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon will help set the tone for the Thirty-Sixth CARICOM Summit from 2-4 July, in Bridgetown, Barbados.

The engagement in the morning of Thursday 2 July will be guided by the theme, CARICOM: Vibrant Societies, Resilient Economies, A Partnership for Implementation.

It will provide an opportunity for CARICOM Heads of Government to engage the UN SG on the Community’s sustainable development agenda as attention now pivots three imminent international conferences: The Third International Conference on Financing for Development; the UN Summit on the Post-2015 Development Agenda; and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, COP 21, all of which have significant bearing on the future global agenda and the development of the Community.

With the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Accelerated Modalities of Actions (Samoa Pathway) also in focus, discussions with the UN SG will seek to rationalize an integrated approach to the sustainable development in the Community, as it seeks to make vibrant societies and resilient economies a reality. The Samoa Pathway emanated from the Third International Conference on Small Island Developing States in September 2014.

The CARICOM Heads of Government Conference will commence with a formal Opening Ceremony at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday at the Hilton Barbados Resort, paving the way for the Chairmanship of The Rt. Hon. Fruendel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados. He assumes the six-month rotational chairmanship on 1 July from the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas. They, as well at the CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, will address the opening ceremony along with the newly (re)elected Heads of Government of Montserrat, Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis, Guyana, and Suriname.

The theme of the Conference: Vibrant Societies, Resilient Economies, will guide the Heads of Government as they tackle a packed agenda with issues including energy in the context of a proposal for a new institution to lead the Region’s energy agenda, the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, mechanisms for CARICOM candidates in international positions, CARICOM relations with the Dominican Republic, and Belize-Guatemala and Guyana-Venezuela border issues.

Space has been carved out for special engagements with the outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General, H.E. Kamalesh Sharma, and President of the Republic of Panama, H.E. Juan Carlos Varela Rodrίguez.  The Meeting will see representation from fourteen Member States and two Associate Members with only one not represented at the level of Head of Government.  Ambassadors Accredited to CARICOM, CARICOM Institutions, and organizations including the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) and Association of Caribbean States (ACS) will attend Thursday’s Opening Ceremony.