Former CARICOM SG to receive Order of the Caribbean Community

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas (left) and then Secretary General Sir Edwin Carrington discussing CARICOM issues during a briefing visit to St. Kitts (photo by Erasmus Williams)

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 29TH 2011 (CUOPM) – Former Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) His Excellency Sir Edwin Carrington will be conferred with the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) during the Opening Ceremony of the 32nd Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community on Thursday.

The Ceremony will be held at the Sir Cecil Jacobs Auditorium at the Eastern Caribeban Central Bank (ECCB).

Carrington, a Trinidad and Tobago national, held that position from August 1992 to December 2010, making him the longest serving Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community.

Carrington also served as Deputy Secretary-General, and immediately thereafter, 1985-1990, as Secretary-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) the only Caribbean National to have held that position to date.

In acknowledgment of his outstanding service, Carrington Hall at the ACP Secretariat (Brussels) is named in his honour.

In 2005, Carrington, was awarded Trinidad and Tobago’s highest honour, the Trinity Cross, as well as the Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 1987.

He has also been honoured by other Caribbean States, being the recipient of the Companion of Honour of Barbados (CHB); the Order of Distinction of Belize; the Duarte, Sanchez Y Mella, Gran Cruz De Plata decoration of the Dominican Republic; the Cacique Crown of Honour (CCH) of Guyana, the Order of Jamaica and a knighthood from the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

Recognition of Carrington’s contribution to the Caribbean was expressed by the Caribbean Diaspora, through the conferring in 2001 of the Pinnacle Award by the National Coalition of Caribbean Affairs.

Carrington is the holder of Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics, from the University of the West Indies and McGill University in Canada.

He was also conferred with the degree of Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of the West Indies and the City University of New York CUNY (Medgar Evers College).