FM DAVID AND REGIONAL COLLEAGUES TO DISCUSS MULTILATERAL AND HEMISPHERIC RELATIONS IN ROSEAU

ROSEAU, Dominica, May 5, 2010 – CARICOM’s response to the Haitian catastrophe, the changing geopolitical dynamics in the hemisphere and Post-Copenhagen, challenges and policy responses are among issues to be discussed by Foreign Affairs Minister Peter David and his regional colleagues in Dominica.

The regional ministers are attending the 13th meeting of the CARICOM Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) which began in Roseau on Wednesday.

The Ministers will also discuss multilateral and hemispheric relations to include the United Nations, the Organisation of American States (OAS), Association of Caribbean States (ACS) and the Human Rights Council.

Border issues to include Guyana-Venezuela relations and Belize-Guatemala relations and piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

The proposed meeting of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians (ACCP) set for Trinidad, July, 2010 and the operations and functioning of the COFCOR are also on the agenda for the two-day meeting.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith is also attending the meeting which follows on from a Memorandum of Understanding Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Trinidad and Tobago last year, establishing formal relations between Australia and CARICOM.

COFCOR is the primary mechanism for managing CARICOM’s external relations.