THIRD MEETING OF THE COUNCIL FOR HUMAN AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OPENS IN GEORGETOWN

The Third Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development takes place in Georgetown, Guyana on 13 and 14 January 2000. The Opening Session will begin at 09:30hrs, in the Savannah Suite of the Pegasus Hotel.

CARICOM Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin W. Carrington will deliver the Opening Remarks. Other remarks will be made by Hon. Henry Jeffrey, Minister of Health and Labour, Guyana and Hon. Damian Greaves, Minister of Community Development, Culture, Local Government and Cooperatives, Saint Lucia.

During the two-day meeting, CARICOM Ministers will consider a number of recommendations on a range of issues coming out of the deliberations of the Meeting of Officials Preparatory to the Third COHSOD, which was held on 18-19 October 1999. These include: The Status of Implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and The Role and Responsibilities of COHSOD, in this regard; Harmonisation of Labour Standards and Legislation and Signing and Ratification of ILO Conventions.

Other recommendations to be considered are the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Status of Preparation of National Policies and Programmes for International Year of Older Persons; Youth Enterprise Development and Institutional Strengthening and Technical support for Ministries, National Youth Councils and Youth Programmes; HIV/AIDS and the New Strategic Plan for an Expanded Response.

The Agenda of the Meeting will also consider a submission from the Standing Committee of Caribbean Statisticians on a revised proposal for the Regional Coordination for Population and Housing Censuses to be conducted by Member States in 2000-2001, as well as a proposal for a CARICOM/UWI Cricket Conference.

Decisions and recommendations from this meeting will be put forward to the Community Council of Ministers, the second highest organ in the Community's decision-making structure.

The Ministerial Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) is one of four Ministerial Councils which assists the principal organs of the Community in the performance of their functions. Other Ministerial Councils are the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) and the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP).