14 caricom leaders, 3 presidents coming to T&T for CARICOM summit next week

CARICOM leaders at their last summit in Haiti

Trinidad and Tobago will host the 34th CARICOM summit from next Wednesday, which coincides with 40th anniversary of the Treaty of Chaguaramas.

Four Prime Ministers of the More Developed States signed the treaty on July 4, 1973. They were Trinidad and Tobago's Dr. Eric Williams, Forbes Burnham (Guyana), Errol Barrow (Barbados) and Michael Manley (Jamaica).

Acting Information Minister Anil Roberts gave details of the summit at the post cabinet media briefing on Thursday. He said in addition to the 14 leaders of the Caribbean Community there will be three special guests - the Presidents of the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea and Venezuela. The Heads of Regional and International Organisations will also attend. 

President Maduro of Venezuela

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is taking over the Caricom chairmanship from July 1 to December 31. He successor would be Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, who would be chairman for the first half of 2014.

The conference begins on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 with the Opening Ceremony at the Diplomatic Centre. Several of the leaders will deliver addresses, including the outgoing Chair, Haitian President Michel Martelly and Persad-Bissessar. 

On Thursday there will be an event at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre to re-enact the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The main conference venue will be the Trinidad Hilton.

Teodoro Obiang Nguema, President of Equatorial Guinea, is attending the summit as the chairman of the ACP Group of countries, which represents countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific regions. Roberts said Trinidad and Tobago has an interest in discussing energy-related matters with the President.

On Friday 5th July, the Heads of Government will be in an all-day retreat at the Petrotrin compound, where trhe guest of honour would be Danilo Medina, President of the Dominican Republic.

The conference ends on Saturday, when the special guest would be venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Roberts said Maduro’s visit is important in the context of the Region’s relations with Venezuela.

The Prime Minister would host a joint media conference on Saturday with Caricom secretary general Irwin LaRoque to update the local and regional media on the discussions and decisions taken during the summit.