CARICOM council to focus on labour issues today

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana: Issues pertaining to labour, especially the free movement of skilled workers within the region, will be the focus of the Ninth Meeting of the Caricom Council for Human and Social Development which opens this morning at Le Meridien Pegasus in Guyana.

Under the theme, Investing in Human Resources - Focus on Labour, the meeting will get underway with an opening ceremony and keynote address by CARICOM Secretary-General, Mr. Edwin Carrington. A special feature of the ceremony will be the presentation of a special plaque to Guyana's artist, Mr. Phillip Moore on behalf of the government of Suriname for his outstanding contribution to Culture and the Arts at the Extraordinary Palace Exhibition of Fine Arts held during CARIFESTA V111. 

According to a Caricom statement, regional ministers will also consider a status report on the arrangements in place in each member state on free movement of people and the implementation of hassle free travel.

Other issues on the agenda will include strategies for reducing the levels of unemployment in the region; technical and vocational education and training; labour information systems; accreditation and standardisation and labour and the inter-sectoral agenda in human and social development.

The ministerial meeting will also consider a number of special matters, among them: crime and security; the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Programme; priorities for culture and development in the Caribbean including the future of CARIFESTA; establishment of the Caribbean Commission on Health and Development; advances toward a Joint Council of Civil Society and the Social Dialogue; and the functioning of national COHSOD.

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