28th June 2019

CARICOM Secretary General to once again engage youth in one on one session
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By OPM

The 40 th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) will be held in Saint Lucia, 3 – 5 July 2019, with implementation of measures to enhance theCARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) expected to be high on the agenda.
The Meeting, at the Sandals Grande St. Lucian Hotel, will be held under the Chairmanship of the Prime
Minister of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Allen Chastanet.
Heads of Government are expected to build on the St. Ann’s Declaration approved at their 18 th Special
Meeting on the CSME, in Trinidad and Tobago in December. The Declaration, which confirmed the
CSME as still the most viable platform to support the Region’s growth and development agenda, put
forward several measures for determined action. Among them, a more formalized, structured
mechanism for engagement with the region’s private sector and labour; expansion of the categories of
skilled nationals entitled to move freely and work within the Community, to include Agricultural
Workers, Beauty Service Practitioners, Barbers and Security Guards; ensuring Community-wide
recognition of each Member State-issued CARICOM Skills Certificate; reinforcing regional security
mechanisms; and permitting the Region’s citizens and companies to participate in public procurement
processes across the Community.
December’s Special Meeting had appointed a broad-based ten-Member team under Economist
Professor Avinash Persaud to a restructured CARICOM Commission on the Economy to advise Member
States on a Growth Agenda for the Community, and Heads are expected to receive an update on its
work.
Several other major matters related to security and regional and foreign relations are also expected to
be part of the deliberations.

An Opening Ceremony will be held on Wednesday 3 July, and will be addressed by Prime Minister
Chastanet; the outgoing Chairman, Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris of St. Kitts and Nevis; and
CARICOM Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has 15 Member States – Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas,
Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia,
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago; and five Associate Members –
Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

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