(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General, His Excellency, Edwin Carrington on Monday January 19, 2009 urged the newly recruited staff of CARICOM Secretariat to feel a sense of “ownership” of the regional integration process as they embarked on their tenure at the CARICOM Headquarters, Georgetown, Guyana.

At a meeting, which formed part the recruits’ orientation of the work and functions of the CARICOM Secretariat, Secretary-General Carrington said that a commitment to professionalism and a consciousness of the core values of the Secretariat, should always be clear in their minds.

Describing the influx of staff as an “army of workers building for tomorrow” Secretary-General Carrington encouraged them to be agents of change, identifying and contributing to areas that needed to be improved to enhance the future of the CARICOM Secretariat.

Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, noted that many of the recruits were brought into the Secretariat as part of the capacity building framework of the 9th European Development Fund (EDF). She noted that the 9th EDF was critical to the financing of several projects which were currently being coordinated by the CARICOM Secretariat.