(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) , His Excellency Edwin Carrington , assured the Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles and her Council of Ministers that the Caribbean is one family.

“We feel we are family already,” Mr Carrington said during a meeting at Government Headquarters in Curacao with the officials. The Secretary-General and a team from the CARICOM Secretariat arrived in Curacao on Wednesday , 19 September , for a two-day visit and were greeted at the airport by Prime Minister the Honourable Mrs Emily de Jongh-Elhage, acting Island Governor, Ms Magaly Jacoba and the Director of Foreign Relations Mr Eduard Mendes de Gouveia.

The Secretary-General, who is in the Netherlands Antilles at the invitation of the Government, paid an official call on the Prime Minister at her office on Thursday , 20 September prior to meeting with the Council of Ministers. Mr Carrington took the opportunity to offer his condolences and those of the Community to the Government and People of the Netherlands Antilles and to the family of the five people killed in an explosion at the Curacao Dry dock just minutes before the meeting.

The Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers offered their condolences to the Secretary-General on the death of Sir John Compton, the former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia , who died on 7 September. Mr Carrington had come to Curacao directly from the funeral services for Mr . Compton.

Mr . Carrington made a presentation to the Council, after which a discussion took place which focussed primarily on issues related to functional co-operation, such as education, youth development, health and disaster management. At least two of the territories comprising the Netherlands Antilles, Sint Maarten and Saba , are part of the Caribbean Examinations Council system, while the Netherlands Antilles are members of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/Aids (PANCAP) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Relief Agency (CDERA).

During a visit to the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles, where he met with the Chairman of the Parliament, Mr Pedro Atacho, the Secretary-General reiterated the theme of One Caribbean. He briefed the Parliamentarians on the structure and activities of the Community , and engaged in a discussion with them on the possibilities of greater co-operation between CARICOM and the Netherlands Antilles, which consists of Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Maarten and St Eustatius. In that regard, the application by the Netherlands Antilles to be an observer in the Council of Human and Social Development (COHSOD) was discussed.

The Secretary-General delivered a lecture on Thursday night at the University of the Netherlands Antilles on the “Unification Process in the Caribbean” before a packed hall. On Friday , Mr Carrington meets with the Governor General and participates later that day in a private sector symposium at the Central Bank. Mr Carrington returns to Georgetown on Saturday.