(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of CARICOM's Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Public Service of The Bahamas Hon. Fredrick Mitchell has underscored the need for CARICOM to remain consistent and be more vigilant regarding the use of the Caribbean Sea.

"CARICOM must remain consistent and become more vigilant regarding its concerns on the transhipment of nuclear waste through the Caribbean, specifically in the halls of the United Nations. Not only is the Caribbean Sea the natural home of the majority of countries of our Community of States, but it also the basis of our livelihoods. We say an unqualified no to nuclear wastes through the seas of this Region from Bermuda, through The Bahamas all the way to Suriname," Minister Mitchell said.

He concluded by pointing out that "positioning CARICOM firmly within the international landscape will be our most critical task as we address regional, hemispheric and global issues and tighten our preparations and capacities for intervention in the arenas of international engagement.

In my view, however, there can be no more compelling issue for us than the return of Haiti to the Councils of CARICOM. It is essential that there be free and fair elections in Haiti, and that all citizens of Haiti be allowed to participate in its political processes free from arbitrary arrests or from the concerns of political violence and discrimination."

In the meantime, immediate past Chairman of COFCOR, The Hon. Billie A. Miller says the current discussion on the reform of the United Nations Security Council represents an opportunity for CARICOM to "inform a new definition of security with the realities and threats that make our lives and our countries insecure."

She noted that the predominant focus on the militaristic, conflict-based aspects of security marginalised other dimensions of security which were equally or even more important for assuring its achievement.

The Barbados Foreign Minister pointed out that "the more powerful voices of the developed nations have placed terrorism and other forms of violent trans-national crime, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and war at the top of the list of destabilising elements that make the world insecure."