The 25th annual Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) begins with a ceremonial opening this afternoon in this spice isle of the region, a full house of leaders and a packed agenda for their four-day summit.
Relations with the interim Haitian regime, crime and security, and the readiness of governments for inauguration of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are high on a 15-item draft agenda.
Sustainable management of the region's vital agricultural sector, including a common policy on fisheries and maritime resources, as well as the challenge to be faced by a proposed 40 per cent cut by the European Union in the price for sugar imports are also on the agenda.?
Secretary General of Caricom, Edwin Carrington, told the Sunday Express yesterday that, with the exception of Haiti, he was expecting all heads of government of the 15-member Community to be in Grenada and "in a mood to push ahead with our heavy workload".
In view of the impasse that has developed between Caricom and the interim Haitian regime, following the controversial departure of President Jean Bertrand Aristide on February 29, no official invitation was extended to Haiti, a member of the Community, for the Grenada summit.
Caricom withheld support for Gerard Latortue's interim government during a March summit in St Kitts, expressing concern about the circumstances of Aristide's departure and Latortue's praise for armed rebels who still control much of Haiti's countryside.
Latortue had been expected at the summit but did not attend in protest at Jamaica giving Aristide temporary exile in that island just 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Haiti's shores, saying the move would destabilise the country.
But Aristide left Jamaica for South Africa on May 30 and Latortue, who had said he was suspending Haiti's membership in the community, since has made conciliatory statements. Yvon Simeon, Haiti's interim Foreign Minister, was scheduled to have an informal meeting yesterday with the Community's Council of Ministers to brief them on steps being taken in Port-au-Prince for the early restoration of constitutional governance and to ensure the rule of law.
The briefing is said to be crucial to determining Haiti's status and whether it should return to the councils of Caricom. A decision on Haiti could come at a caucus session of the Community leaders, perhaps by Tuesday, if not as early as tomorrow.
The Council of Ministers, the second highest organ of Caricom after the Heads of Government Conference, also had on its agenda for yesterday a meeting on the latest assessment of arrangements for a restructured and empowered Community Secretariat.
Recommendations from a five-member committee of regional technocrats, mandated by Caricom leaders to review the structure and functioning of the Georgetown-based Secretariat, will form the basis of the Council of Ministers' deliberations for reporting to the Heads of Government.
The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) was winding up its meeting yesterday, ahead of this afternoon's ceremonial opening of the summit.
Special guests will include the Secretaries General of the Commonwealth, Organisation of American States and Association of Caribbean States, as well as the representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Host Prime Minister for the summit, Dr Keith Mitchell, who has assumed the chairmanship, will be among four Heads of Government to address the opening session.
The others are the outgoing Caricom chairman, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda, and the Prime Ministers of Jamaica, P J Patterson, and Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, in addition to Secretary General Carrington.
