On Wednesday, February 18th, 2015, Prime Minister Perry Christie gave a statement in the House of Assembly, announcing to the country the upcoming 26th Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), being hosted in Nassau, New Providence on the 26th – 27th of February at the Melia Resorts.
Prime Minister Christie also took the opportunity to congratulate the people of St. Kitts and Nevis on their peaceful general elections, which were conducted on Monday, February 16th, 2015; and expressed thanks to former Prime Minister, Dr. Douglas, for his service and leadership as Prime Minister, especially on matters of Health. Christie also conveyed congratulations to the new Prime Minister, Dr. Timothy Harris, who heads Team Unity – an amalgamation of three opposition parties – extending a warm welcome ahead of his arrival in the Bahamas to the Heads of Government Meeting during the final week in February.
About the objectives of CARICOM Prime Minister Christie commented, “The objectives of the fifteen member states that make up the Caribbean Community are well known to us and this geo-political alliance has served the Caribbean well over the years, especially through the principle of functional cooperation.
“The Community continues to work together to improve standards of living and work of our people; the full employment of labor and other factors of production; accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development and convergence; expansion of trade and economic relations with third States; enhanced levels of international competitiveness; organization for increased production and productivity; achievement of a greater measure of economic leverage; effectiveness of Member States in dealing with third States, groups of States and entities of any description; and the enhanced coordination of Member States’ foreign and foreign economic policies and enhanced functional cooperation.”
Prime Minister Christie highlighted two items placed on the agenda by him on behalf of The Bahamas; including a discussion of the need to leverage CARICOM’s human, cultural and natural assets for the economic development of the community – an issue which he said had been raised by the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Rt. Hon P.J. Patterson as recently as November 2014 during his address to the 19th Annual Multi-national Business Conference in The Bahamas – and commented that Mr. Patterson had been invited as his guest to facilitate discussions on that matter.
The second item added, he said, was on the issue of regional security, stating, “…particularly in light of the threat of the Islamic State of Iran and Syria (ISIS), the Council of National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSOLE) will convene a meeting to consider the briefings of the Commissioners of Police and Intelligence Agencies on this threat.”
Other agenda items for consideration and discussions, he shared, were:
- Principles to guide the identification of CARICOM candidates for international positions.
- The establishment of the CARICOM Committee of Ambassadors.
- Revision of emoluments and proposed pension rules for judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
- Financing of the CARICOM Secretariat and community institutions.
- Audit of the Caribbean Knowledge Learning and Network Agency (CKLNA).
- Reparations for native genocide and slavery.
- Financing and composition of The Marijuana Commission.
- Discussions on how the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) can support the development of agriculture in the Community.
- Relations with the Dominican Republic.
Just before asking all Bahamians to extend that unique and special Bahamian hospitality in welcoming the Heads of Government to Nassau next week, The Prime Minister commented on the Dominican Republic, saying, “I wish to add that in light of our local immigration reform efforts which are very different from the denationalization of Dominicans of Haitian descent by a court ruling of the Dominican Republic Constitutional Court in September 2013, CARICOM must engage in political diagolue and contact with the Dominican Republic.
“The Community must do so Mr. Speaker within the context of the requirements of CARIFORUM, under the revised Cotonou Agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Many of these agenda items will be discussed in greater detail during the meetings next week as we conduct interviews and press briefings after the plenary sessions.”
