(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM leaders have called for stocktaking to determine what was working well for the integration movement so that those elements could be retained and improved, while discarding those components that were hindering the Community.
Crime, unproved categorisation of the Region as a financial high risk area and the potentially devastating effects of the Zika virus were the threats identified by CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, in his urgent call for action to keep the Community’s well earned reputation safe and secure.
The threats to the Region’s banking sector via the trend of de-risking could have “cataclysmic ramifications” for the Caribbean, and a “relentless” campaign must be waged against it, Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Belize, the Hon Dean Barrow warned on Monday.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)
Remarks by the Secretary-General
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Amb. Irwin LaRocque
At the Opening Ceremony
Of the Twenty-Seventh Inter-Sessional Meeting
of the Conference of Heads of Government
of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Outgoing CARICOM Chairman and Prime Minister of Barbados Hon. Freundel Stuart said the Community got major breakthroughs that it wanted from the COP 21 Agreement signed in Paris last year. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Twenty-Seventh Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, which is being held in Placencia, Belize from 16-17 February 2016.
Distinguished guests
I am especially pleased to be here on my first visit to Belize, and to be able to savour the charming manner and warm hospitality of the government and people of this great country, often described as the potential bread basket of the Caribbean.
The threats to the Region’s banking sector via the phenomenon of de-risking could have “cataclysmic ramifications” for the Caribbean, and a “relentless” campaign must be waged against it, Chairman of CARICOM and Prime Minister of Belize, the Hon Dean Barrow warned on Monday.
The threat to the Region’s banking sector and the response to the Zika threat are expected to engage the attention of CARICOM Heads of Government as they go into day one of their 27th Inter-sessional meeting in Placencia, Belize on Tuesday.
Heads will, among other things, review recommendations from a meeting of the Committee of Finance Ministers on Correspondent Banking, held on Monday. They will also review recommendations for further action by the Region to deal with the Zika threat to the Region.
Advancing the Regional response to the Zika threat will be among matters engaging Caribbean Community CARICOM Heads of Government at their 27th Inter-Sessional meeting in Placencia, Belize, 16-17 February.
The Heads are also expected to focus on measures to position the Region to benefit from the historic Paris Agreement on Climate Change, including access to climate finance.
Grenada’s efforts to promote Regional integration, particularly in the area of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), have been lauded by CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.
The Secretary-General expressed his appreciation in a message to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell on the occasion of Grenada’s 42nd Independence anniversary observed on 7 February.