STATEMENT BY THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT CONCERNING THE FLOODING IN GEORGETOWN, GUYANA AND SURROUNDING AREAS, JANUARY 2005

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin W. Carrington, now back from the United Nations Meeting on the Sustainable Development of Small Island States in Mauritius, today (Monday, January 24, 2005) met with the Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite and staff to assess the impact on staff and operations of the Secretariat, of the current flood situation in Georgetown and surrounding areas.

The Secretary-General was pleased to note that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have already been providing some assistance to Guyana. The Secretariat will be contacting other regional agencies especially the Caribbean Epidemiological Centre (CAREC), the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI) regarding such response, as they may be able to provide.

The Secretariat, for its part, is providing assistance to affected staff, both present and past. Also, staff members have expressed a wish to assist the people of Guyana and arrangements are being made to enable them to do so.

Meanwhile the Secretariat, which has been closed since Monday, 17 January because of the significant dislocations suffered by the majority of staff members, will re-open on Tuesday, January 25. In light of the difficulties still being experienced by many staff members, the Secretariat will however, operate at limited capacity to carry on the work of the Community. This involves pressing ahead with preparations for several upcoming meetings of the Community including the Sixteenth Inter-sessional Meeting in Suriname 16-17 February.