Senator the Honourable Dennis Moses, Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs on 29th September, 2015 attended the Costa Rica/CARICOM Heads of State and Government breakfast meeting. The meeting was organized by His Excellency Luis Solis Rivera, President of Costa Rica to discuss the strengthening of the relationship between CARICOM and Costa Rica in the areas of trade and cultural exchange, deepening cooperation in multilateral fora such as the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), among other matters.
The President of Costa Rica stressed that engagement between CARICOM and Costa Rica should be on a sustained basis and not on an ad hoc basis as had previously obtained. CARICOM Heads of State and Government in attendance were the Honourable Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados who gave some introductory remarks as current Chair of CARICOM, His Excellency David Granger, President of Guyana and Dr. the Honourable Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia. Ambassador Irwin La Rocque, CARICOM Secretary General was also present. The Foreign Ministers of Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, and Suriname were also present at the meeting.
The Heads also discussed the possibility of advancing the relationship between CARICOM and Costa Rica through a proposed CARICOM/Costa Rica summit in 2017.
Following the breakfast meeting, Minister Moses then returned to the General Assembly Hall for the continuation of the debate.
Minister Moses later attended the Eighth Special Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) of CARICOM where he was warmly welcomed by his counterparts in his first official CARICOM encounter since assuming the portfolio of Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs.
A number of issues currently on the United Nations agenda and pertinent to Member States of CARICOM received the attention and consideration of the COFCOR including the outcomes of 2015 Development Summits and Conferences vis a vis Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, climate change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- Ministry of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs
