(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chief Information Officer of Barbados, Ms. Jacqui Wiltshire has stressed that the provision of information was pivotal to preparations for staging Cricket World Cup 2007.

Welcoming participants at the opening of a two-day Caribbean Community workshop on Crisis/Security Management for Regional Press Officers at the Sherbourne Conference Centre, Bridgetown, on Tuesday, Ms. Wiltshire said communications officers must be ready to deal with the public communication requirements of any eventuality, particularly the unplanned and in times of crisis.

“We are staging a world event in an environment where the provision of information is key. Timely, accurate, appropriate and credible information to both national and international publics, particularly in time of crisis, is pivotal,” she said.

Ms. Wiltshire pointed out that the Region was prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes, volcanic activity and earthquakes, and reemphasized that communications officers needed to understand the importance of crisis preparations.

She pointed out that security risks of the world today were very different from seven or eight years ago and the implications were no longer localised but global, and ranged from health and tourism to concerns of terrorism.

Details on the CARICOM Special Visa are available at www.caricomvisa.com  or www.caricomimpacs.org  or contact: Rose Blenman, Public Education Coordinator at rblenman@caricom.org