(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Foreign Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) gather in St Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday 4 May for the Fourteenth Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR).

The two-day meeting will focus on enhancing co-ordination of foreign policies in CARICOM while the Foreign Ministers will also receive the Foreign Ministers of Australia and Slovenia, Honourable Kevin Rudd and Honourable Samuel Zbogar respectively. Special Envoys of the governments of Azerbaijan, Hungary and South Africa will also meet with the COFCOR. Chairman of the Meeting will be Honourable Sam Condor, Minister of Foreign Affairs, National Security, Immigration, Labour and Social Security of St Kitts and Nevis.

Co-ordination of Foreign Policy is one of the four pillars of the Community along with human and social development, economic integration and security co-operation. The focus of the meeting is in keeping with the mandate of the CARICOM Heads of Government at the 22nd Inter-sessional meeting held in Grenada last February that there was an urgent need to priorities the focus and direction of the Community to ensure better co-ordination.

Other matters for consideration at the meeting include developments in Haiti, CARICOM’s role in the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), and issues before the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

The Council is expected to reiterate CARICOM’s deep concern with respect to the slow disbursement of funds pledged by the international community to Haiti’s reconstruction and rehabilitation following the devastating earthquake of January 2010.

With respect to issues before the UN, the Ministers will look at ways to ensure the success of the UN High Level Meeting on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) scheduled for September 19-20. The convening of the meeting is the result of a CARICOM initiative following a Community Summit on NCDs in Port of Spain in 2007.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org