(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) must continue to support Haiti and allow sufficient time for that Member State to continue its efforts to participate fully in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, H.E. Lolita Applewhaite, Deputy Secretary-General, CARICOM said Monday.

Delivering remarks at the opening of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), the Deputy Secretary-General Ambassador Applewhaite also led the Meeting in observing a minute’s silence in memory of the “many persons- Haitian, other Caribbean nationals and non-Caribbean nationals – who died in the earthquake.”

Haiti was set to begin participating in the Trade in Goods regime of the Community this year, but given the devastation wrought by the earthquake, this is no longer possible.

“As a Community we must continue to support Haiti and allow that country sufficient time to once again continue its efforts to participate fully in the CSME as a key factor in its development. We are appreciative of the expressions of support and goodwill, within the Region and outside of it, that we have been receiving on Haiti’s behalf,” she said.

Over the weekend, H.E. Carrington, Secretary-General, CARICOM, was part of a team headed by the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica and Chairman of CARICOM, to Haiti.

In Photo: Delegates at the 29th Meeting of COTED observe a minute’s silence for those who perished in Haiti earthquake.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org