(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meets on Friday 9 May in St. Lucia for its Tenth Ordinary Meeting. The meeting’s agenda is replete with modern and timely legislation and instruments for CARICOM Member States to address the challenges of an increasingly globalised world.

The Committee, comprised of Attorneys-General or Ministers responsible for Legal Affairs of CARICOM Member States, is responsible for advising CARICOM on treaties, international legal issues, the harmonisation of laws of the Community and other legal matters.

The instruments for review by this high-level Meeting will include the drafts of the:

• CARICOM Maritime and Airspace Security Cooperation Agreement

• CARICOM Arrest Warrant Treaty

• Agreement respecting the Operation of the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF),

• Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS)

• Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)

• CARICOM Investment Code

• Biological Weapons Convention Bill, 2008

The International Committee of The Red Cross (ICRC) will deliver a special presentation to the Meeting entitled “The ICRC and Implementation of International Humanitarian Law throughout the CARICOM Region”.

It is expected that work will be complete on a number of these instruments in readiness for the Twenty-Ninth Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government in July 2008.