Commonwealth Secretariat press release

Commonwealth Secretary-General to attend CARICOM summit in the Bahamas

29 June 2001

The Commonwealth Secretary-General, Mr Don McKinnon, will attend the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Summit in Nassau, Bahamas from 3-6 July 2001. He has been specially invited to address the Summit on 4 July.

While in the Bahamas, Mr McKinnon will meet with the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Hubert Ingraham and other Caribbean heads of government as part of his bilateral consultations in the run up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), due to take place in October in Brisbane, Australia.

Commenting on the usefulness of these consultations, Mr McKinnon said:

Twelve of the fifteen CARICOM members are also Commonwealth members, so it is very important for us to reinforce our relations with this regional organisation. It is a very effective way to consult with regional heads and I am grateful to CARICOM for extending an invitation to me so that I can take part in and follow some of the discussions during this summit.

It is all the more useful because we are often working together in areas of mutual concern, like the 'harmful' tax dialogue with the OECD, international trade negotiations and other issues of particular importance to small states.

I look forward to my discussions with CARICOM heads in this congenial and collegial setting.




Note to Editors

The following countries are both CARICOM and Commonwealth members: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. Montserrat is a full CARICOM member, and also an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom, a Commonwealth member. Further details about the summit can be found at www.caricom.org.






01/41 29 June 2001

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