A MEETING on Contingent Rights opened at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat in Georgetown with the observance of a moment’s silence for those who have died in the powerful earthquake in CARICOM Member State, Haiti.

Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General who led delegates in Georgetown, and in Kingston, Jamaica via videoconferencing in observing the moment of silence also urged them to continue to keep the people of Haiti in their private thoughts and prayers.

The earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.3, struck on Tuesday last about 10 miles from Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, flattening buildings and claiming the lives of thousands of persons.

Ambassador Applewhaite also read a brief statement from Mr. Edwin Carrington, CARICOM Secretary-General who was in the Dominican Republic attending a consultation on Haiti.

Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica and Chairman of the Community; Mr. Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago; Mr. Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica; Mr. David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados; and Mr. Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, are at that meeting hosted by Mr. Leonel Fernandez, President of the Dominican Republic.