His Excellency Drs. Runaldo Venetiaan, President of the Republic Of Suriname and Chairman of the Caribbean Community;
Other Distinguished Heads of State and Government of Member States of the Caribbean Community;
His Excellency Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil;
Honourable Ministers of Government;
Speaker and Members of Parliament;
Heads of International and Regional Organisations;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Distinguished Delegates;
Distinguished Guests;
CARICOM Youth Ambassadors;

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The Sixteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), which opens in Paramaribo, Suriname on Wednesday, 16 February 2005, is being used as the backdrop for the exploration of new areas of cooperation between CARICOM Member States and several countries outside the Region.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)    Relations between Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries and India are poised to deepen with new projects planned in the areas of health, disaster management, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) among other technical and economic spheres of cooperation.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana)   The February 03 ruling by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that the legislation enacted by Jamaica to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is unconstitutional, has the potential for profound adverse effects on the establishment of the CCJ and the effective implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). This will be the foremost topic for discussion when the Caribbean Community's (CARICOM) Legal Affairs Committee (LAC) meets in Suriname on 9 -11 February 2005.