Barbados Today

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart leads a seven-member Barbados delegation to Guyana Wednesday for the 28th inter-sessional meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government.

Stuart will be accompanied by CARICOM Ambassador Robert Bobby Morris; Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Senator Maxine McClean; his minister of state Senator Darcy Boyce and his permanent secretary Sonja Welch.

The delegation to the February 16-17 summit also includes McClean’s permanent secretary Cecile Humphrey and the Chief Research Officer in the CSME Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office, Paula Byer.

Regional security matters top the agenda of the summit at which the region’s leaders are due to sign the protocol amending the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas to incorporate the Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE) as an organ of the Community, and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) as an institution of the Community.

Also down for discussion are issues of correspondent banking; tourism, the status of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), relations with the Dominican Republic and Barbados’ hosting of CARIFESTA XIII in August this year.

In Stuart’s absence, Minister of Tourism Richard Sealy will act as Prime Minister.