CARICOM Chairman and Foreign Ministers arrive in London for UK-Caribbean forum
Monday, July 14, 2008
LONDON, England: Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Baldwin Spencer, arrived in London on Sunday for the Sixth UK-Caribbean Forum, which opens here on Monday and runs until July 16. Spencer and UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband will both chair the summit. Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Baldwin Spencer Spencer said that the Caribbean views the Summit as vitally important as it gives the region the opportunity to convey its foreign policies and strengthen the relations with the United Kingdom in an effort to address a number of challenges. “It is through the conduit of such fora as the UK-Caribbean Forum that the message of small states like the Caribbean reach the inner sanctum of even larger and more influential decision-making bodies as the EU or G8,” said Spencer In their dialogue with their UK counterparts, CARICOM Foreign Ministers will have the opportunity to address such issues as security- including the immigration policies that affect the Caribbean diaspora - progress regarding implementation of the millennium development goals (MDGs), education and training, the CARIFORUM-EC Economic Partnership Agreement, the issues relative to climate change, energy and food security. Ministers will also be able to have frank discussions with the UK Foreign Secretary on political issues of critical interest and concern to the CARICOM Region, in particular the graduation of Middle Income Countries in UNICEF, Reform of International Financial Institutions and the withdrawal of UK ODA from some CARICOM countries. During the Forum, Guyana and Saint Lucia’s Foreign Ministers will lead on Sustainable Development; Trinidad and Tobago on Security Issues including Immigration; Belize and Jamaica on Economic Development and Saint Kitts and Nevis on Education. Ministers will also be offered the opportunity to engage with UK Parliamentarians on these issues at the UK Caribbean Parliamentary Forum scheduled for Tuesday 15 July, 2008, at the UK Houses of Parliament. This forum hosted by Lord Foulkes of Cumnock, who is also President of the Caribbean Britain Business Council, will also be co-chaired by CARICOM Chairman Spencer. The five previous UK Caribbean Fora were held alternately in the Caribbean and the UK in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006 respectively.