“As we would say in Barbados, “miss this and blame yourself”. Food and fashion, music and dance, art, craft, sculpture and good old Caribbean talk, from philosophy to attitudes, from religion to development. Let us use this as an opportunity to build resilience in our Region spiritually and psychologically. Let us gather and feed our souls and nurture our spirit as Caribbean people.”
CARICOM Chair, Hon. Mia Mottley
Following the Second CARICOM-India Summit in Georgetown, Guyana, CARICOM Leaders gathered at the CARICOM Secretariat on Thursday 21 November for the Twenty-First Meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee (PMSC) on Cricket. Chair of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee, Dr the Hon. Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, continued his advocacy to reinvigorate cricket in the Region.
The Regional Symposium and Policy Dialogue on Transforming Education will provide a platform for critical regional stakeholders to determine methods for transforming education delivery across the Caribbean. The event, which is scheduled from 2 to 4 October 2024 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the Cayman Islands, will be hosted by the CARICOM Secretariat in collaboration with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB/the Bank), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, and The University of the West Indies (UWI).
As Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), I am pleased to acknowledge CARICOM-Africa Day, an annual occasion which underscores our commitment to building stronger ties between the Caribbean Community and the African continent.
In observance of International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, Dr Hilary Brown, Programme Manager, Culture and Community Development, CARICOM Secretariat, shares a message on the significance of recommitting to the fight for reparatory justice.
Read her message below:
The PJ Patterson Institute for Africa Caribbean Advocacy joins in the fitting commemoration of Emancipation Day across Jamaica, the wider Caribbean and nations on the African Continent.
“This day of great historical significance commemorates the end of an era of unimaginable suffering and the dawn of freedom for our ancestors, who endured the brutalities of the Transatlantic Trade in enslaved Africans and Chattel enslavement,” asserted the Statesman in Residence, P.J. Patterson.
On 3 and 4 July 2024, The National Musical Instrument Bill 2024 was debated in Trinidad and Tobago’s Parliament to declare the Steelpan as the country’s National Musical Instrument. Senator the Honourable Randall Mitchell, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, piloted the Bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively.
Caribbean rum producers will present specially developed 50th Anniversary Rum Blends to Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments to honour the achievements of the Community over the past 50 years.
Producers in all rum producing CARICOM Member States, thirteen in total, which are also members of the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA ), will present their products to national governments during the month of June.
“In this Region, we owe it to the generation ahead of us to keep our culture alive and to invest in culture because culture is what distinguishes us from any other region …We do not need lyrics that promote violence in this Region. We have the ability to promote good lyrics and lyrics that move people in a positive direction”, so said CARICOM Chair, H.E. Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, as he delivered the feature address at the opening ceremony of the Forty-Sixth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM on Sunday 25 February 2024.
The Caribbean Festival of Arts (CARIFESTA) is a roving multi-disciplinary art festival which has been held in various CARICOM countries since its establishment in 1972. It is a regional forum where artists, performers and other persons in the field of culture meet and exchange ideas through presentations of music, dance, drama, exhibitions on art, sculpture, poetry and symposia, among others.