EDITORIAL: Awaiting CARICOM decisions after Haiti meeting

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - With at least one third of the Caribbean Community’s 15 Heads of Government absent from the current two-day Inter-Sessional Meeting in Haiti, it would be a welcome surprise if any new initiative of significance on the way forward for the regional economic integration movement is included in the communiqué to be released this evening.
Prior to yesterday’s start of this first Heads of Government meeting in Haiti, with President Michel Martelly presiding, it was disclosed by the CARICOM Secretariat that crime and security would top the agenda.
Desirable as this may be, given the grave social and economic consequences of the crime and violence epidemic plaguing so many CARICOM countries, the reality is that virtually the entire membership of the Community is suffering from the negative effects of the global fiscal and economic recession.