CARICOM and the Republic of Korea held their first high-level meeting in Jamaica on Monday with agreement on a number of areas for closer cooperation.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting the two sides committed to further strengthen their ties of friendship and spirit of cooperation. They also agreed to reinvigorate a Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism which was established in 2006 to guide future CARICOM-Korea political and economic relations.

(CARICOM Secretarait, Turkeyen, Georgetown, Guyana)     CARICOM and Japan relationship will go a step further this week, when CARICOM Foreign Ministers meet with their Japanese counterpart, the Honourable Fumio Kishida, at the Fourth CARICOM-Japan Ministerial Meeting, on 15 November 2014, in Tokyo, Japan. 

The CARICOM side will be led by the Honourable Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana and Chairperson of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).

There could hardly be a more fitting way to mark this CARICOM-Japan Friendship Year than to welcome, for the first time to the Caribbean Community, the Prime Minister of Japan.  Welcome to the Caribbean Prime Minister Abe!
Twenty years ago the first CARICOM-Japan Consultation was held and since then our relationship has strengthened.  This engagement, at the highest political level, shows the commitment of both sides to deepen it further.  This builds on preceding contacts at the level of the Foreign Ministers and of senior officials.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)      The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) condemns the killing of three Israeli teenagers and the revenge killing of a young Palestinian.  The Community is deeply concerned by the resulting escalation of violence between Israel and the Palestinian territory of Gaza with the continuing Israeli bombardment of Gaza and the firing of Palestinian rockets targeting Israeli cities.

It is a real pleasure for me to welcome you all this morning to the opening ceremony of the 17th Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations of CARICOM.  As I welcome our visitors to Guyana, I do so not only on my own behalf, but also on behalf of His Excellency President Donald Ramotar and the people of Guyana.  For our Special Guests who are visiting for the first time, even though your visit with us will be short, I hope that you would find it an enjoyable and a rewarding experience.  We are indeed honoured to host you all.