CARICOM head starts
three-day visit here today
PHILIPSBURG/GUYANA—Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Edwin Carrington will pay an official visit to St. Maarten starting today. The three-day visit is a joint mission with the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC).
During the mission, Carrington and CAIC President Nigel John will meet with the business community and the Executive Councils of the Dutch and French sides. Carrington and his delegation will get an overview of the island’s economy and strides in combating HIV/AIDS when they meet the executive council this afternoon in the A.C. Wathey Legislative Hall.
This will be followed by a round table discussion with the council before the delegation is hosted at a dinner conference by RBTT Bank and CAIC at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort.
Before dinner, CARICOM Assistant Secretary General Human and Social Development Dr. Edward Greene is expected to meet for the Government’s HIV/AIDS Programme Unit and St. Maarten AIDS Foundation for an update on the fight against the pandemic here.
The Netherlands Antilles is a member of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), a CARICOM initiative.
Friday’s agenda commences with a keynote address by CAIC President at a breakfast meeting hosted by St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce at Sonesta Maho at 8:30am. Later in the morning, the CARICOM and CAIC delegation will venture to Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facilities for a tour and discussions about shipping in the region.
In the evening, the delegation will be hosted at dinner by the Collectivité of St. Martin President Louis-Constant Fleming. The visit will conclude Saturday with an island tour organised by Tourism Commissioner Roy Marlin.
This marks the second outreach visit to the Antilles by the Secretary General in recent times following a successful mission to Curaçao last September. This resulted in a delegation from the Antilles attending the Sixteenth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in October 2007. That meeting had conferred Observer Status on the Netherlands Antilles in COHSOD.
