CSME still on track despite Guyana floods
published: Tuesday | January 25, 2005

Leonardo Blair, Staff Reporter

PLANS TO host the official signing of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) agreement and the inauguration of the new CARICOM headquarters building at Liliendaal in Guyana are still on track, despite heavy flooding in sections of that country. Some six persons have died due to flooding.

Up to yesterday, the flooding experienced on the eastern side of that country since last week kept the CARICOM Secretariat closed. However, plans for the historic signing and inauguration of the CSME mid-February are still on track, says Huntley Medley, spokesman for the secretariat.

"The executive management of the CARICOM Secretariat has decided that the inauguration will go ahead," said Mr. Medley in an interview yesterday. "The access to the property is still under water but the building is dry and work is continuing."

Mr. Medley further explained in a release that CARICOM Secretary-General, Edwin W. Carrington, yesterday met with the Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, to assess the impact of the flood on staff and operations of the secretariat.

FINANCIAL AID

The secretary-general explained that the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) have already been providing some assistance to Guyana. The secretariat will be contacting other regional agencies, especially the Caribbean Epidemiological Centre (CAREC) and the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute (CEHI), regarding such response as they may be able to provide.

Meanwhile, the secretariat, which has been closed since January 17 because of significant dislocations suffered by the majority of staff members, will reopen today in a limited way to facilitate the implementation of CARICOM affairs.

This involves pressing ahead with preparations for the upcoming 16th Intersessional Meeting in Suriname February 16-17.

Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have indicated their willingness to proceed with the CSME, which will facilitate the free movement of skills, labour, goods and services across the region.