Hello Caribbean!
─ Sixth CARICOM-Cuba Foreign Ministers meeting being held in Guyana
DPI, Guyana, Thursday, June 13, 2019
Delegates from across the Caribbean are in Guyana for the Sixth Meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba to be held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) tomorrow.
Representing the Cuban Delegation will be Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodriguez Parilla. This will be the minister’s first visit to Guyana. It is part of his Caribbean Tour.
Some of matters of interest on the agenda are CARICOM-Cuba relations and issues that are pertinent to the region in the areas of climate change, tourism and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Leading the Antiguan delegation is Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Trade Paul Chet Greene who will also be meeting with officers from the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC) to engage in talks on the Guyana Trade Fair to be held in Antigua next month.
Other Delegates include Ambassador of the Bahamas to Cuba, Brent Dean, Belize Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Sen. Michael Peyrefitte, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs for Dominica, Francine Baron, Haiti’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cults, Bocchit Edmond, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Minister of Education, National Reconciliation, and Ecclesiastical Affairs, St. Claire Prince and Minister of Foreign Affairs for Suriname, Yldiz Deborah Pollack-Beighle.
One of the more noteworthy initiatives coming out of bilateral relations between CARICOM and Cuba is the establishment of the Regional Training Centre to Stimulate the Development of Children, Adolescents and Young people with Special Education Needs Associated with Disabilities.
The centre was conceptualized at the 2014 CARICOM-Cuba Summit with the vision of training persons to be prepared to manage persons with disabilities at any place in Guyana and the Caribbean Region.
It was built in a collaborative effort between the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education of Guyana with Cuba providing the Technical Staff to run the facility and train their Guyanese Successors. The visiting Delegations will be paying a special visit to the Centre.
There will be an official opening Ceremony on Friday for the CARICOM-Cuba Meeting where The CARICOM Secretary-General, Irwin LaRocque, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karen Cummings and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba, Bruno Rodriguez Parilla are expected to give remarks.
While here for the CARICOM-Cuba meeting, these Ministers and Delegates will also be attending various meetings such as a special CARICOM Caucus for the various Ministers of Foreign Affairs and other bilateral meetings with their Guyanese Counterparts.
Image (Foreign Affairs Minister): Giovanni Gajie