What exactly did Caricom Heads of Government agree to in respect of the Caricom Secretariat when they met in Paramaribo?
Their communiqué, in its customary opaque and over-formalised style, suggests that their deliberations on a 157-page consultant’s report making practical recommendations on restructuring Caricom had resulted in a number of positive outcomes.
These were that the report will be made public; Caricom’s Secretary-General will recruit a facilitator to prepare for the process of change and the Bureau of Conference (presently the Heads of Government of Suriname, St Kitts and St Lucia) will work with the Secretariat ‘in a parallel exercise’ on improving regional governance and implementation. The objective is that when Caricom Heads meet in July they will have before them a five-year strategic plan.
The communiqué also records that Heads felt the need to