PM Kamla and CARICOM leaders agree on plan for new governing structure

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar attended a special CARICOM meeting in New York Friday with several of her Caricom Colleagues.

The talks were a continuation of discussions started at the Jamaica CARICOM summit on the issue of a new governance structure.

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding chaired the meeting at which the leaders discussed the latest refinement of a paper developed by a team headed by Professor Vaughan Lewis.

It calls for the establishment of a permanent council of ambassadors or special representatives, who will act as an executing body to implement decisions made by the Heads of Government.

The council will try to find a solution to problems that have plagued the integration movement for decades.

Leaders said they have agreed in principle with the new proposed structure, and took a decision to mandate the CARICOM legal affairs unit to develop a formal plan as to how it can be incorporated into the current structure.

The leaders then decided to seek to have further discussions on this matter when they meet again in Grenada, at the next CARICOM intersessional meeting next February. 

Persad-Bissessar also led a team of Ministers and staff at a meeting with a delegation of the Commonwealth Secretariat headed by the Secretary General, Kamlesh Sharma.

Among the matters discussed was the establishment of a Small States Office to provide financial subvention to allow Small States to participate in meetings of the Commonwealth. These States are usually sidelined because of financial constraints.

Persad-Bissessar, as head of the chairman of the Commonwealth Heads of Government, agreed to consider a proposal which is to be presented by the Secretariat. She also raised the possibility of pooling resources for accommodation for Smaller States.

The meeting discussed three windows of growth:

• Youth development
• Education development
• The enhancement of Democracy

The Prime Minister and the Secretary General also discussed the possibility of technical corporation in areas of Justice, Social Services and the setting up a Network of Election Commissioners. Both delegations also identified climate change as an important component for development.