(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The West Indies Cricket Board – West Indies Players Association (WICB-WIPA) Mediation Agreement reached in Georgetown, Guyana on 21 July 2009, under the good offices of the Chairman of CARICOM, H.E. President Bharat Jagdeo, called for the Mediation Process to ‘be pursued with the utmost expedition…’

On Sunday 9 August, after 25 hours of intense discussion, the Parties concluded the first phase of the process without reaching overall agreement on the issues in dispute between them.

In the second phase, which begins immediately, the Parties will, in the light of the discussions, prepare written submissions with a view to exploring a comprehensive settlement based on the principle of partnership. These submissions will be exchanged no later than 20 August and discussions on them will resume on 27 August and continue for as long as necessary between then and the end of the first week of September.

The Mediator, Sir Shridath Ramphal, expressed disappointment that more agreement had not been reached during the first phase of discussions, but was encouraged that both Parties wished to continue the Mediation Process in the hope of reaching a comprehensive settlement of their differences.

Such a settlement, Sir Shridath stressed, is essential to the future of West Indian cricket and he continued to place value on the mutual assertion in the Georgetown Agreement that while both Parties are ‘mindful of the mandates of their respective bodies,” they are also “conscious of their responsibilities to the people of the West Indies and the international sport of cricket.”