Prime Minister Freundel Stuart will be attending the 32nd Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) in St. Kitts.
He leaves the island tomorrow for the conference which starts Friday and ends on Monday.
Stuart is scheduled to make his first address as Prime Minister at the opening ceremony at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium, Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in Basseterre.
Other members of the delegation include Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean; Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Keith Franklin; Permanent Secretary (Foreign Trade) Bentley Gibbs; and Permanent Secretary (Foreign Affairs) Charles Burnett.
Health as it affects the region is expected to be one of the main items down for discussion, as the region marks ten years of concrete achievements in that sector, following the 2001 Nassau Declaration – the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region.
CARICOM Heads are also expected to start preparing for the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases scheduled for New York in September.
Another highlight of the summit will be the ceremonial signing of the Inter-Governmental Agreement to establish the Caribbean Public Health Agency as a legal entity.
There will also be addresses by outgoing chairman and Prime Minister of Grenada, Tillman Thomas; and incoming CARICOM chairman and Prime Minister of St.Kitts and Nevis, Dr.Denzil Douglas; President of Haiti, Michel Martelly, who will be attending his first summit; President of Suriname, Desiré Bouterse; along with the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves.
During the conference, former CARICOM Secretary-General, Sir Edwin Carrington, will be conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC), while the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women will be presented to Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Professor Eudine Barriteau.
After the meeting, Stuart and other heads will travel to Margaritan, Venezuela for the third summit of Heads of State and Government of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development, from July 4 to July 6.
