CARIBBEAN LEADERS HEAD TO RIO

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Just days before their own XX Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, eleven (11) CARICOM Leaders will attend the historic Inter-Hemispheric Summit between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean.

This first ever summit of its kind will begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday June 28 and end the following day. CARICOM Secretary-General Mr Edwin Carrington, in Rio for the final preparatory meetings and the Summit, said the meeting will lay a foundation for closer, more friendly relations among all the participating regions. He said this was an event of historic proportions at the turn of the century, ushering in the new millennium with a coming together of two of the major continental regions of the world.

The nine-point agenda of the Summit is divided into three broad themes; Political Dialogue, Economics and Trade and Education, Culture and the Human Dimension. Three Caribbean leaders will be making major presentations. Two of the presentations will lead off discussions on agenda items at the meeting while the third will be at the closing ceremony. Guyana, which has been the CARICOM representative on the Rio Group, will lead on Trade Negotiations and Trade Liberalisation during discussions on Economic and Trade Matters while the Dominican Republic will start the discussion on Social Equity and the Fight against Poverty in the Political Dialogue. Suriname, currently in the chair of CARICOM will speak on behalf of the Caribbean and Latin America at the closing ceremony.

Following the Rio Summit, CARICOM Heads of Government will assemble in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago late next week for their own Summit which begins on July 4th and ends on July 7^th.