CARICOM to recruit change facilitator for restructuring process

New CARICOM Chairman, His Excellency the President of Suriname, Desi Bouterse (center) shakes the hands of Outgoing Chairman The Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas (right) as CARICOM Secretary General His Excellency Edwin LaRocque looks on.

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, MARCH 12TH2012 (CUOPM) – Caribbean Heads of Government have agreed that the Secretary-General of CARICOM, His Excellency Mr. Irwin La Rocque would begin the process of restructuring of the Georgetown-based Secretariat through the recruitment of a change facilitator to support him in that exercise and the strengthening of the corporate functions in the first instance.

The decision came during the Heads of Government 23rd Inter-Sessional Conference in Suriname, also attended by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, at which the Report on the Review of the Secretariat was received.

The Report, which they had commissioned in July 2010 in Montego Bay, Jamaica, was carried out by independent Consultants and supervised by a Project Management Team comprising representatives of Member States.

Caribbean leaders considered in-depth, the recommendations of the Report as well as recommendations by the Community Council on that Report and agreed that the Report would be made public.

Heads of Government were of the firm view that the integration movement has continued to make great strides ever since the signing of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.

In a parallel exercise, the Bureau of Conference would work with an internal group from the Secretariat to facilitate improving regional governance and implementation. This process will involve the drawing up of the outline of a five-year strategic plan in time for consideration by Heads of Government at the Thirty-Third Meeting of the Conference in July.

On the issue with Haiti, Heads of Government noted the positive outcome of the visit of the Bureau of Conference to Haiti on 13 – 14 February 2012 which served to reaffirm the Community’s support for and solidarity with that sister nation.

They welcomed the fruitful discussions held with His Excellency Michel Martelly, President of Haiti, his Cabinet Members and relevant stakeholders in Haiti.

They further welcomed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with regard to CARICOM’s support for Haiti in the areas of institution building, capacity building, programmes for youth development and facilitation of travel for Haitian nationals.

In this regard, they underscored the importance of the Special Representative and the CARICOM Representation Office in Haiti in continuing to provide support for Haiti through advocacy and capacity building as well as to assist in the implementation of the recently signed MOU. They reiterated their call for the international community to fulfill their pledges to finance the reconstruction of Haiti and looked forward to the early ratification of a new Prime Minister.