President Danilo Medina travels to Port of Spain, Trinidad today, Friday 5 July to attend the 34th Ordinary Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and President Michel Martelly of Haiti are attending the summit as well as the 14 heads of state of Caricom member countries. Trinidad & Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the current chair of Caricom, is hosting the event.
Medina is traveling by private plane and is due to return later in the day. The Presidency reports that Presidency Minister Gustavo Montalvo, Administrative Presidency Minister Jose Ramon Peralta and CDEEE executive vice president Ruben Jimenez Bichara are accompanying the President. Other special guests include Santo Domingo senator Cristina Lizardo and San Juan deputy Lucia Medina. Chief of the military corps Major General Adan Caceres and presidential special assistant Carlos Pared Perez are also traveling in the delegation.
The Trinidad Express reports that in her opening keynote speech yesterday, Thursday 4 July, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar suggested the formation of a “regional think tank” to examine multiple security threats facing the region. Such an approach, she said, would also identify ways of improving cooperation between governments and law enforcement agencies in countering illicit activity in the hemisphere. “We must also attack crime at the root, which means we must develop approaches to combat poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and the rising cost of living,” she said.
In Santo Domingo, Fernando Gonzalez Nicolas, president of the Commonwealth Roundtable, called for expanding the free trade agreement signed with Caricom that began to be implemented in 2001.
www.trinidadexpress.com/news/PM-wants-think-tank-on-regional-security-214231831.html
www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Seize-this-moment-214226681.html
www.haitilibre.com/en/news-8933-haiti-politic-president-martelly-at-34th-meeting-of-the-caricom.html