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The Forty-fifth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held from 3- 5 July 2023. In acknowledgement of the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973, it was agreed that Trinidad and Tobago would host.<\/p>\n Chair of the Conference, Prime Minister of\u00a0Dominica,<\/strong>\u00a0the Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt presided over the Meeting.<\/p>\n Other Members of the Conference in attendance were: Prime Minister of\u00a0Antigua and Barbuda<\/strong>,\u00a0 Honourable Gaston Browne; Prime Minister of\u00a0Barbados<\/strong>, Honourable Mia Amor Mottley; Prime Minister of\u00a0The Bahamas<\/strong>, Honourable Philip Davis; Prime Minister of\u00a0Grenada,<\/strong>\u00a0Honourable Dickon Mitchell; President of\u00a0Guyana<\/strong>, His Excellency Mohamed Irfaan Ali; Prime Minister of\u00a0Haiti,<\/strong>\u00a0the Honourable Dr Ariel Henry; Prime Minister of\u00a0Jamaica<\/strong>, Most Honourable Andrew Holness; Acting Premier,\u00a0Montserrat,<\/strong>\u00a0Dr. the Hon. Samuel Joseph; Prime Minister of\u00a0St Kitts and Nevis,<\/strong>\u00a0Honourable Dr Terrence Drew; Prime Minister of\u00a0Saint Lucia,<\/strong>\u00a0Honourable Philip Pierre; Prime Minister of\u00a0St. Vincent and the Grenadines<\/strong>, Dr the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves; President of\u00a0Suriname<\/strong>, Chandrikapersad Santokhi, and the Prime Minister of\u00a0Trinidad and Tobago<\/strong>, Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley.<\/p>\n Belize was represented by Hon Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade.<\/p>\n Associate Member States represented\u00a0Bermuda<\/strong>, by Premier, the Hon Edward David Burt; the\u00a0British Virgin Islands<\/strong>, by Premier, Dr. the Hon. Natalio D. Wheatley and the\u00a0Turks and Caicos Islands,\u00a0<\/strong>by Hon. Arlington Alexander Musgrove, Minister of Immigration and Border Services<\/p>\n OPENING CEREMONY<\/strong><\/p>\n CARICOM Secretary General, Dr Carla N Barnett, welcomed the Community and guests to the Opening Ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on 3 July 2023.<\/p>\n She highlighted several of CARICOM\u2019s significant achievements over its 50 years of existence and recognised past leaders whose efforts laid the foundation and who have been standard bearers for integration. She also emphasised the importance of involving young people in the integration process, pinpointing CARICOM\u2019s Human Resource Development Strategy 2030, to equip young people of the Region with the tools necessary to function effectively in the 21st century.<\/p>\n The Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt, Prime Minister of Dominica and Incoming Chair; Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and Conference Host; the Honourable Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas and Outgoing Chair and His Excellency Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General also addressed the Conference.<\/p>\n All three Prime Ministers spoke of CARICOM\u2019s significance, the resilience of the people of the Region, and the need for collective action to advance CARICOM\u2019s integration process.<\/p>\n The Chair noted that the 50th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary offered the opportunity to make transformative decisions to shape the future of our Community for the next 50 years. He highlighted reviving the Single Domestic Space that once allowed citizens to traverse freely across the Region; regional air travel; and the situation in Haiti as critical issues on which the Meeting would focus.<\/p>\n \u201cEven as we celebrate this landmark in the evolution of our integration movement, we must be mindful that the symbols and events of celebration do not serve as a distraction from the substance of the heavy lifting still needed to make our Community viable, prosperous, secure and beneficial to all of its people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Host Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Keith Rowley observed that CARICOM has charted its own destiny. Immediate Past Chair, the Honourable Philip Davis, noted that during his tenure, regional cooperation was demonstrated through strong support from the Community for the Bridgetown Initiative; efforts to address crime and violence and the illegal trafficking of guns into the Region; as well as a regional response to mitigate the effects of climate change.<\/p>\n <\/a>His Excellency Antonio Guterres,\u00a0<\/a>UN Secretary General, who was a Special Guest at the Meeting congratulated CARICOM on its 50th<\/sup>\u00a0Anniversary. He recognised the Region\u2019s efforts to extend its Good Offices to Haiti, as well as its leadership on climate action and the plight of Small Island and Low-lying Coastal Developing States, the international financial infrastructure, and financing for development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Forty-fifth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held from 3- 5 July 2023. In acknowledgement of the 50th\u00a0Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in 1973, it was…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":283689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[235,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\u201cBeyond the doubts, CARICOM is working diligently to serve the people of the Region.\u00a0 While at times, the going may be slow or the outcome may not have been readily apparent, we all continue to build on the strong foundation laid 50 years ago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n