GEORGETOWN, Guyana - The planning for Caribbean Agriculture Week (CAW) 2013, the 12th edition of the Region’s premier agricultural event, will be hosted by the Government of Guyana, October 4-12, under the theme `Linking the Caribbean for Regional Food and Nutrition Security and Rural Development’.Preparations are moving apace for the event to be held at the Guyana International Conference Centre. The local steering committee (comprising members of the Ministry of Agriculture and other ministries, CARICOM, FAO & IICA) met on July 18 and decided on a number of planning issues.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Twenty four countries from across the region have confirmed their participation in the Caribbean Festival of Arts and Culture (CARIFESTA), scheduled to be held in Suriname, August 16- 25. This was disclosed by the Chairman of the Host Country Management Committee (HCMC), Ivan Graanoogst at a recent press conference held at the Headquarters of Carifesta XI in Paramaribo. He said Carifesta XI will not only take place in the capital, but across all ten districts in the country.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end. – Nelson Mandela, Robben Island 1975

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Outgoing Director General of the Caribbean Forum (CARIFORUM) Directorate, Ivan Ogando Lora, says European countries have not lived up to their promise of assisting regional countries in implementing measures contained in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed with Europe nearly five years ago.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - It seems worthwhile to return once again, editorially, to the subject of the recent CARICOM Heads of Government conference held in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this month. Most commentaries suggest a certain pessimism about the outcome of the meeting, and there has been no substantial comment from any of our heads refuting this view. Instead, we are left with a conclusion that among the subjects on which some progress might have been expected to be made, nothing suggesting forward movement has transpired.