The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

PRIME Minister Perry Christie will speak at the opening ceremony of the 34th CARICOM Heads of Government conference in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad tonight.

Mr Christie will also take part in discussions on new directions for economic growth and development, transportation and the process of reforming CARICOM.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago recently appointed chairman of CARICOM, will preside over the meeting.

The conference will coincide with the observance of the 40th anniversary of CARICOM and all but one of the member states are expected to be represented.

In addition to speeches from Mr Christie and Mr Persad-Bissessar, the outgoing chairman of CARICOM Haitian president Michel Martelly will deliver remarks, as will Freundel Stuart, the Prime Minister of Barbados; Keith Mitchell, the Prime Minister of Grenada; and Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, CARICOM Secretary-General.

Special guests at the meeting will include Obiang Nguema, president of Equatorial Guinea and chairman of the ACP; Danilo Medina, president of the Dominican Republic; and Nicol�s Maduro, president of the Republic of Venezuela.

The meeting is taking place in the city where the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which established CARICOM, was signed on 4 July, 1973 and will feature a re-enactment of the treaty signing on Thursday at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre.

In addition, a proposal for a high-level meeting about persons with disabilities and special needs is expected to be discussed at the meeting.

The anticipated proposal comes on the heels of Prime Minister Christie’s recent trip to Abaco where he spoke at the graduation of 13 students from Every Child Counts, a school for special needs children in Abaco.

As a father of an autistic son, Mr Christie said it warmed his heart to be at the gradation ceremony: “It is because of my son that I have first-hand experience with the challenges and dedication required in educating children with exception needs,” he said.