Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mr. Edwin W. Carrington, heads a three-member delegation to the Inter-Governmental Organisations Meeting which opens on Thursday 22 March, 2001 at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

The Commonwealth Small Island States' forum is being convened amidst intensive discussions with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation in Development (OECD) on the question of the Harmful Tax Competition Initiative. A likely development to evolve from this forum is the exploration of possibilities of a joint approach in response to the Initiative.

The two-day meeting seeks to forge closer ties between the Small Island States of the Commonwealth and to coordinate and strengthen their participation in international fora. This is the second meeting of the grouping, the first being held in Fiji in February 1998.

Deliberating under the central theme "towards a global alliance of Small States at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)", delegates will look at a number of key issues including, post-Seattle developments and preparations for the proposed WTO Ministerial Meeting later this year.

Implementation of the Commonwealth Secretariat/World Bank Report on Small States and the UN General Assembly Special Session on Small Island Developing States are also among the range of matters which will be discussed.

Delegates are also expected to examine ways for practical cooperation among Secretariats of regional groupings, especially in relation to Trade, Environmental and Political issues.