Working group set up to study Caricom associate membership

Friday, February 10, 2012

THE Caribbean Community (Caricom) Council of Ministers has agreed to establish a working group to look at issues pertaining to associate membership of Caricom.

At its one-day meeting at the Caricom Secretariat's Georgetown, Guyana headquarters on Tuesday, the Council appointed Saint Lucia to head the working group. The other members are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

The ministers were discussing proposals for enhanced participation of and criteria for associate membership as well as the expression of interest by the Dutch-speaking islands of St Maarten and Curacao in becoming associate members of the Community. Currently, Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands are associate members.

The council, under the chairmanship of Winston Lackin, foreign minister of Suriname, also recommended for approval by heads of government, the "Implementation Plan for the Regional Framework for Achieving Development Resilient to Climate Change". The plan, prepared by the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC), was developed following approval of the regional framework by heads of government in 2009.

The CCCCC, with support from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network and the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom, conducted extensive consultations throughout the Community with various stakeholders. The plan seeks to guide the identification and prioritisation of actions regionally and nationally within the framework.

The ministers had a first cut at reviewing the roles and functions of the Council. This review is aimed at enhancing its overall effectiveness as the second-highest decision-making body in the Community and will continue at their next meeting scheduled for June