(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Regional Information and Translation Institute (CRITI) will be launched in Suriname on Thursday 17 January 2008.

At the launch, the President of Suriname, His Excellency Runaaldo Venetiaan and the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Forum of ACP States (CARIFORUM), His Excellency Edwin Carrington will sign an Headquarters Agreement. The President and the Secretary-General are also expected to unveil a plaque on the premises to be used for the headquarters of the Institute in Paramaribo.

In July 2005, the CARIFORUM Council of Ministers agreed to establish and locate CRITI in Suriname. CRITI will translate official documents and provide information for the CARIFORUM Member States, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States and the CARICOM Secretariat, other Regional Organisations and the private sector. CARIFORUM consists of the Member States of CARICOM plus the Dominican Republic and in its operations uses the official languages of all its Member States, English, French, Spanish and Dutch. Translation will, therefore, be provided into and out of these languages.

CRITI will facilitate official intra-CARIFORUM and intra-CARICOM communications at political and technical levels in the four (4) official languages of CARIFORUM. It will make the institutions of CARIFORUM and CARICOM, including the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), more accessible to all citizens of CARICOM regardless of language through the provision of translation services. It will bring the institutions, organisations and official proceedings of the region closer to its citizens by providing records of deliberations and decisions in their respective native languages.

This Institute is being established at a time when trade expansion and the movement of capital and services will require information and translation services to be provided to the private sector to facilitate trade, commerce and investments.

CRITI will also offer a translation and information service to professional bodies, and the general public on a cost recovery basis as part of its long term sustainability strategy.