Written By Rickey Singh –in Barbados
A HIGH-level two-day consultation begins today in Grenada on “Future Perspectives of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group beyond 2020”.
Foreign Ministers and leading regional intellectuals and personalities of this Region are among confirmed participants for the event taking place in Grenada.They will join host Prime Minister, Dr  Keith Mitchell, ACP’s Secretary General Alhaji Muhammad  Mumuni, and CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque (who is also Secretary General of CARIFORUM (CARICOM plus The Dominican Republic), in the opening ceremony.
The ACP, comprising 79 nations with a combined population of some 800 million, was originally inaugurated in
1975 on the basis of what’s known as the “Georgetown Accord”
–following a summit in Guyana’s capital city. It is currently
seeking representation in the influential Group of 20”
nations.
The ACP Heads of Government have established a representative Eminent Persons Group (EPG) to benefit from the participation of regional stakeholders to advise on “future perspectives” to make the ACP more effective and relevant beyond 2020.
This weekend’s CARIFORUM Consultation has been designed to facilitate the EPG members and a wide cross-section of informed participants have been mobilised for the two-day event.
Among presenters would be Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Commonwealth Secretary General and Chairman of the West Indian Commission who, along with Jamaica’s former Prime Minister, P. J. Patterson, had played key roles in the ACP’s inauguration.
Other leading participants include Sir Edwin Carrington, a former Secretary General of the ACP and later CARICOM; the Foreign Ministers of Barbados (Maxine McLean) and Guyana (Carolyn Rodriques-Birkett); Dr Len Ishmael, Director General of the Organisation of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS); Professor Vaughan Lewis of St Lucia and Anthony Gonzales of the UWI’s Institute of International Relations.