(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Preparations for the Twenty-Second Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government is among the agenda items for the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, which will be held in Georgetown, Guyana, on Monday 17 January, 2011.

The second highest body in CARICOM also referred to as `The Council’, will examine arrangements for the Inter-Sessional Meeting to be held in Grenada, in February 2011.

At the Meeting, Ministers will consider and approve the Work Programme and Budget of the CARICOM Secretariat and the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network Agency (CKLNA).

The Community Council is expected to engage in a follow-up discussion to the Special Meeting of the Conference on Governance, which was held in Grenada, August last. In this context, it will examine the establishment of a Permanent Committee of CARICOM Ambassadors (PCCA) within the structure of the Caribbean Community, and review the operations of the CARICOM Secretariat.

Further, The Council will be considering matters currently engaging the attention of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD), and the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED). Among the COHSOD issues are: the establishment of the Regional Tertiary Education System; the Regional Tertiary Education Council; and the Caribbean Public Health Agency.

With regard to COTED, the Council has been asked to approve the 2011 Work Programme and Budget of the CARICOM Competition Commission (CCC) and a non-reciprocal trading arrangement agreed for Haiti over a three-year period.

At the meeting at the CARICOM Secretariat Headquarters at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, The Council will also receive an update on the preparation of a Strategic Plan for Regional Development, as well as the schedule of other major meetings within the Community in the first quarter of 2011.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org