(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Thirty-Second Special Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) on Agriculture opens on Friday 18 September, 2009 at the Le Meridien Pegasus, Georgetown, Guyana.
COTED Officials began their meeting from Wednesday September 16, 2009 at the same location.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Despite efforts at the national, regional and international levels, exotic pests continue to invade the Caribbean and the impact on trade can be both harmful and devastating.
I extend a warm Antiguan and Barbudan welcome to all of you.
A special word of welcome to representatives of the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which have willingly and generously provided financial support for this Symposium. I am indeed heartened by the level of support given and the representation of these agencies here today. It augurs well for the collaboration and cooperation which we are forging.
It really is a pleasure to be in Antigua and Barbuda for this, the inaugural Regional Services Symposium and to be asked by the CARICOM Secretariat to say a few words at this opening session.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The management of invasive species can best be executed when countries and regions cooperate with each other while at the same time reaching out to specialist agencies with proven credentials in controlling these pests.
Delegates attending a two day symposium on invasive species in St. Kitts/Nevis pointed out that as these harmful species move by land, air and sea, it was in the interest of countries to cooperate with each other on their management and control.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Services Sector is the future of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and in order for the sector to work effectively, governments must provide the enabling environment and other incentives for its development, the Hon Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said Wednesday.
But he noted that it was the private sector that had to do the rest “to make it happen. You therefore have to organize yourselves, particularly in the newer areas, just as our traditional Sectors have or are doing to their advantage.”
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Regional Symposium on Services which opened Wednesday morning in St. John’s Antigua and Barbuda, is being hailed as an exciting initiative that should result in the reversal of a history of poor implementation of regional decisions.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Agriculture policymakers and plant scientists believe the time has come for countries to measure the financial impact of invasive species on national economies and consequently they believe there needs to be a major investment in research.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) More than a hundred representatives of the Services Sector in the Caribbean will gather in St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda to begin charting a more structured approach to the development of the Sector within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).