Mr. Chairman – the Honourable Wilfred Elrington, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Attorney General of Belize
Other Honourable Ministers
Your Excellencies Ambassadors to the Caribbean Community
Deputy Secretary-General and other members of the Executive Management of the CARICOM Secretariat
Distinguished Delegates
Representatives of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), I welcome you all to this Twenty-Third Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has signaled the Secretariat’s readiness to assist in preparations for the upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas. The Summit will be held April 17-19 2009 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago under the theme ‘Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability’. The Summit of the Americas brings together 34 Hemispheric Heads of State and Government.

  Honourable Prime Ministers and Minister of Finance of Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Colleague Ministers of Finance
Secretary General of the Caribbean Community
Ladies and gentlemen
Delegates and guests.

I welcome you to the 13th COFAP meeting and hope that we will have fruitful discussions.

I want to thank my colleague of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the way he chaired the COFAP in the past year.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)  The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) has agreed that a technical team should visit Haiti in the near future for discussions with the government on how the Community could assist in helping that country recover from the devastating effects of the 2008 hurricane season.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Final preparations for Twentieth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Caribbean Community Head of Government will be in focus at the Twenty-Third Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, scheduled for Georgetown, Guyana on February 2, 2009.

The second highest body in CARICOM also referred to as “The Council”, will examine arrangements for the Inter-Sessional Meeting to be held in Belize, from March 12-13, 2009.