(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater
Georgetown, Guyana) Prime Minister of Barbados the
Rt Honourable Owen Arthur, who also has the lead
portfolio for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy
(CSME), and US Secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Henry
M. Paulson Jr., will deliver the keynote addresses
at the Plenary Opening Ceremony of the Conference on
the Caribbean which begins in Washington DC, USA on
19 June, 2007.
The three-day ground-breaking event will be held
under the theme `Conference on the Caribbean: A
20/20 Vision’. Its highpoint will be the CARICOM-US
summit when CARICOM Heads of Government and US
President George W. Bush will hold talks on 20 June
2007 at the White House.
The Plenary Session on 19 June, which begins at
8:30 a.m. at the Preston Auditorium, World Bank, will
be held under the theme `CARICOM Development in the
21st Century: Economic Growth with Social Equity’.
CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin
Carrington will be Chairman of that Session.
Presentations will also be made by Dr. the Hon.
Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and
the Grenadines and CARICOM Chairman; Mr Juan Jose
Daboub, Managing Director, World Bank; Mr. Luis
Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB); and His Excellency José
Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General, Organisation of
American States.
The Opening Plenary will be followed by the Joint
Private Sector-Experts Session under the theme
`International Competitiveness of Caribbean
Countries’.
Other events on the packed first day include the
Diaspora Forum at the OAS Hall of the Americas under
the themes `The Caribbean Disapora in Perspective’
and `Challenges and Opportunities for Caribbean/US
Diaspora’ and the opening of the official Art
Exhibition at the OAS Hall of Heroes by President of
Haiti, His Excellency Rene Preval.
On Day Two, three fora will be held concurrently:
the Experts Forum at the World Bank, the Private
Sector Dialogue at the IDB and the Diaspora Forum at
the OAS. The Experts Forum will comprise sequential
sessions under the themes of `Education’, `Health &
Gender’, `Security and Competitiveness in a Global
Environment’ and `Physical Infrastructure for
CARICOM’s Growth and Global Competitiveness’. At the
Private Sector Dialogue, the theme for the
discussions is `US-Caribbean Trade: Opportunities
for Growth’. The Diaspora Forum will examine topics
such as `Economic and financial empowerment of
Caribbean-US Diaspora’, `Mobilising Caribbean-US
Diaspora Skills Knowledge and Professional
Networks’, and `Banking on the Future: Engaging the
Youth’. Participants will have the opportunity to
engage Heads of Government at that forum.
On the morning of the final day of the
Conference, there will be a joint Wrap-up Session at
the OAS, Hall of the Americas under the theme
`CARICOM Development in the 21st Century: The Way
Forward.’ The official closing ceremony will be held
at the same venue.
CONTACT:
piu@caricom.org
