The Region should expect a breath of new life and meaning, to the Region's premiere cultural festival, CARIFESTA, when a special meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development [COHSOD] on Culture is convened next week.

The two-day meeting scheduled for June 2-3 will take place in Georgetown, Guyana where a strategic plan for the reorganisation of CARIFESTA drafted at the first meeting of the CARICOM Task Force on CARIFESTA in Trinidad in March will lead the discussions on the way forward.

The Task Force on CARIFESTA was established after the Ninth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) endorsed the recommendation of the Arts and Culture Symposium at CARIFESTA VIII in Suriname in August 2003.

A number of Ministers with responsibility for culture have already confirmed their attendance at this first meeting of its kind. They will reflect on creating a more dynamic festival that displays excellence in Caribbean art and culture. Over the two days, the Ministers, together with other regional officials, are also expected to examine the economic viability of the festival and help to craft a strategic direction for the reformulation of the festival.

In addition, the Meeting will also look at Free Movement of cultural workers, as well as cultural goods and services against the international trade rules and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).

On this issue of the Free Movement of Cultural Workers, the Meeting will consider the recommendations coming out of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Regional Cultural Committee [RCC] held in Trinidad and Tobago for the revision of the term "Artistes and Musicians" as defined by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.

As culture-trade issues have assumed prominence in recent years in light of the debate over globalisation and the multilateral trade negotiations, the Meeting will also consider issues of relevance to policy makers and is expected to adopt appropriate measures dealing with the development and protection of cultural industries

Since COHSOD VI in April 2002, in which Health and Development was featured, the directorate has been working assiduously to implement the decisions taken at intervening meetings. The COHSOD from its inception has been challenged not only with establishing an appropriate mission, but also with identifying an effective mechanism for defining the most appropriate arrangements for intersectoral activity at both the regional and national levels.

Under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas the COHSOD is expected to function as an integrated unit with responsibility for promoting human and social development.

The aim of COHSOD is therefore to bring coherence to the functioning of the social sectors and complementarity between the economic and human dimensions of the Region's development.