(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will review preparations for upcoming Summits and Ministerial meetings with external partners when the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) convenes its Ninth Meeting on 24-25 April in St. George’s, Grenada.

The Community will be participating in the CARICOM-Spain Summit set for 11 May in Madrid, Spain, and the European Union (EU)/Latin America and the Caribbean Summit earmarked for 12-13 May in Vienna, Austria. The UK-CARICOM Forum scheduled for 27 April in Bridgetown, Barbados, will bring together CARICOM Foreign Ministers and British Foreign Secretary, Hon Jack Straw.

The COFCOR will review the outcomes of recent Ministerial Meetings including the meeting between CARICOM Foreign Ministers and the United States Secretary of State which was held on 21-22 March in The Bahamas, and the Eleventh Meeting of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Council of Ministers which was held on the 26-28 March in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

In the context of examining CARICOM’s relations with external partners and its participation in the activities of international organisations, the COFCOR will focus on Canada where there has been a recent change of government, and the EU which has recently issued a policy statement on its relations with the Caribbean.

In terms of CARICOM-UN relations, specific attention will be given to the ongoing UN reform process and to the Community’s priorities for the Sixty-First UN General Assembly (UNGA). The COFCOR will also be brought up to date on issues pertaining to the Rio Group, which is currently presided over by Guyana.

The COFCOR will also discuss Haiti in light of its recent national elections, at which Mr. René Preval emerged the President-elect, and which paved the way for the return of the representatives of Haiti to the Councils of CARICOM.