Caricom agrees on Spanish as a second official language

Tuesday, October 14, 2003

GEORGETOWN, Guyana: Spanish has been agreed on as the second official language of CARICOM and should be popularised throughout the region. 

The Guyana Chronicle today quoted Deputy Secretary General of the Caribbean Community, Ms. Lolita Applewhaite, as saying CARICOM Heads of Government have agreed that CARICOM heads have agreed that in view of the region's geographic location relative to Central and South America, and the increasingly closer relations between CARICOM and Latin America, including the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Spanish should become the second official language of CARICOM.

The Chronicle quoted Ms. Applewhaite as adding, "in order to unify our position and break down psychological barriers that may exist, we must be able to understand and communicate with each other effectively."

"Consequently, improved language skills, is an important dimension to the modernisation of our educational system," she said, adding that at the regional level, emphasis is being placed on developing multi-lingual skills at an early age," she said. 

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