Dr. Carol Jacobs, the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) representative to the Board of the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, was elected as the new Chair at the Fund's Tenth Board Meeting currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland.

Unanimously elected for a two-year term, Dr Jacobs holds the distinction of being the first woman ever to be selected, and the first Caribbean national to chair the board of any global AIDS policy or financial institution.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)   Chairman of the Tenth Meeting of the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP), the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis has urged CARICOM Member States to vigorously pursue the establishment of the Regional Development Fund (RDF) which is intended to cushion possible fall out from the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Secretary-General His Excellency Edwin Carrington has emphasised the need for a new growth paradigm within the Caribbean, as well as a new vision for achieving sustainable high rates of growth and equitable development within the Region.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The birth of a child often evokes a wellspring of hope and joy, as well as a sense of pride. For the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) family, the inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Saturday 16 April 2005 in Trinidad and Tobago was truly a time of celebration and a moment of Caribbean euphoria for it marked the culmination of a century old period of gestation, and the birth of the Region's final Court of Appeal.