(CARICOM Secretariat, Greater Georgetown) THE upcoming 32nd regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community which opens in St Kitts and Nevis today will focus on health, as the Community marks ten years of solid achievements in that sector, since the 2001 Nassau Declaration – the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region.

Acting CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite told journalists at a media conference last Friday that health was one of the major success areas for the Community in its “arsenal of functional co-operation.”

It is in this context therefore that the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on the Prevention and Control of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) will also take centre of interest, on the agenda of this summit as Heads of Government fine-tune their preparations for that meeting set for New York in September.

As a fitting tribute to ten years of achievement in health, a ceremonial signing of the Inter Governmental Agreement (IGA) to establish the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) as a legal entity will be one of the features of this summit.

In outlining the programme for the meeting, Ambassador Applewhaite told media representatives that the opening ceremony last evening at the Sir Cecil Jacobs auditorium would have been addressed by the Presidents of Haiti and Suriname, their Excellencies Michel Martelly and Desiré D. Bouterse; the Prime Ministers of Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines, Hon. Freundel Stuart, and Dr the Hon Ralph Gonsalves, Heads of Government elected or appointed since the last regular meeting.

The Prime Ministers of Grenada and St Kitts and Nevis, the Hon Tilman Thomas and Hon Denzil Douglas, will address the meeting as outgoing and incoming Chairs, respectively. She added that for the first time, the Head of Government of an Associate Member country – the Honourable Paula Cox, Premier of Bermuda – will address the opening ceremony.

The conference will also confer the Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC) on His Excellency, Sir Edwin Carrington, the former Secretary-General of the Community, and the CARICOM Triennial Award for Women will be presented to Professor Violet Eudine Barriteau, Deputy Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cavehill Campus, in Barbados.

A special feature on day two of the meeting is the exchange of views with their Excellencies Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, President of Colombia; José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General, OAS; and Mr. Andris Piebalgs (MEP), Commissioner for Development, European Commission.

The Conference closes on Sunday, July 3, with presentations of medals and awards to winners of the Sixth Staging of the Annual 10K Road race which would have taken place earlier that morning.