(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Haiti will host the Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) 18-19 February 2013.

The arrangements for the meeting were agreed to at the Thirty-First Meeting of the Caribbean Community Council of Ministers when they met in Georgetown on Monday 14 January, 2013.

It will be the first time that Haiti will be host of a Meeting of the Conference. Haiti assumed Chair of the Community, also for the first time, on January 1, 2013.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) begins its 40th year of existence, I wish the people of all Member States a year of peace and prosperity. I am particularly pleased that, for the first time, my country, Haiti, is serving as Chairman of CARICOM.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkey, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The restructuring of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat will be one of the priority areas for Secretary-General Irwin LaRocque come 2013.
Revamping the administrative arm of the Community was one of the recommendations of the Landell Mills Consultancy, and Heads of Government had mandated a Strategic Plan and Change Process to effect the transformation.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkey, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), has lauded the dedication and commitment displayed by staff members of the CARICOM Secretariat, the administrative arm of the Community.

“It is no secret that the work of the Secretariat demands every waking hour of all of the staff and I just want to take the opportunity to thank them very much for their continued commitment and devotion to the calling of integration,” the Secretary-General said recently.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) I am pleased to be here at the official opening of these facilities that are now the new home of two sections of the CARICOM Secretariat and one Community Institution, all of which have critical functions in the advancement of the Community – the Secretariat’s Office of Trade Negotiations and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Unit, and the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF).