Head of State and Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Chairman Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday chaired the first meeting of the leaders appointed to the first ever regional task force of a political nature that was established at the 30th CARICOM Heads of Government Conference in Guyana to look at the effects that the global financial and economic crisis is having on the region and to find suitable solutions.

The meeting was held at the Office of the Jamaican Prime Minister, Bruce Golding in Kingston, Jamaica.

The Task Force also comprises Prime Ministers Patrick Manning of Trinidad & Tobago, Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and David Thompson of Barbados.

Additional technical members of the Task Force include the CARICOM Secretary-General; President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Director-General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS); and the Director of the Caribbean Centre for Money and Finance (CCMF).

The President has been very active in his role as CARICOM Chairman, seeking to broker a truce between the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies Players Association over the impasse that has negatively affected cricket in the region, and meeting several times with personnel from the CARICOM Secretariat in preparation for this meeting.

The President had also promised to meet with the technical members of the Task Force before convening this meeting.

At a press conference on July 29, before leaving Guyana, the Head of State had said, “We have done some technical work now and hopefully, by next Monday, we will be ready to paint a picture to give a clear indication of the situation in each of our member states, plus the short-term requirements for financing in some of the member states; and hopefully we will be able to chart a way forward to raise resources for these countries.” (GINA)