By Ariana Gordon
CHILEAN President Michelle Bachelet and a full house of leaders of the regional trade and integration bloc CARICOM are expected in Guyana early next month for the annual retreat of Caribbean leaders.

The meeting is billed for July 4-6 and is expected to tackle a range of issues, including the decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU), which has been a key trade and development partner for Guyana and the rest of the region.
Currently, the EU and CARICOM are engaged in the Economic Integration Programme, valued at 19 million Euros. The programme is directly related to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), one of the flagship programmes of CARICOM, which partly deals with the free movement of people across the region.
As of June this year, there was an implementation of 53% of the resources.
The CSME, the free movement of people, the Guyana- Venezuela border controversy and the Belize and Guatemala border issue, correspondent banking, CARICOM relations with Cuba and stateless citizens (The Dominican Republic) are among the other items on the agenda for the meeting.
Speaking during a forum Saturday, CARCIOM Secretary- General Irwin La Rocque told the media that the agenda is not set in stone and will encompass many other subjects.
“While we do have an agenda, the agenda evolves as we go along,” he stated.
Regarding the “special visit of the Chilean President, Ambassador LaRocque explained that CARICOM countries have good and friendly relations with Chile and the extension of an invitation to President Bachelet to attend the Heads of Government conference is not new.
He noted that her predecessor, Sebastián Piñera,had attended a previous Heads of Government conference in Grenada.
“The Community over the past years has made a conscious effort to build relations with our partners in our hemisphere. It is not at the expense of our traditional partners by any stretch of the imagination, but Chile has been a partner to all of our countries bilaterally, in very good and friendly bilateral relations between Chile and all our members,” said Secretary-General La Rocque.
He noted that what started out as a courtesy call from the Chilean president to him has developed beyond that. He said CARICOM and Chile have decided to work much closer, while noting that there are many areas of “common interest” between the duo and it was felt that it was appropriate to invite President Bachelet.
While Ambassador La Rocque could not state specifically what would be discussed with the Chilean President when she arrives, he pointed to “issues of the hemisphere” while noting that bilateral relations is a must.
“Chile is very, very strong in areas of disaster-related matters, relations between our universities and Chilean universities, scholarships, training, capacity-building… a number of things that are ongoing. We will be building on those,” he stated.
LaRocque reiterated the fact that Chile is a voice not only for this hemisphere but internationally. “We always use the opportunity to sensitise and to brief our special guests on some of the issues of concern to us.”
He said other dignitaries have been invited to the Heads of Government Conference that will open on July 4 at the National Cultural Centre. However, no formal interactions have been scheduled for those guests.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, said Guyana is pleased to be co-hosting the conference. He emphasised that the meeting is part of a normal rotation of chairmanship, but on this occasion Guyana has stretched its hand out to host the meeting given the devastating natural disaster that had occurred in Dominica last year.
Dominica currently holds the chairmanship and was scheduled to host, but could not assume that responsibility as it is still recovering from the impact of Tropical Storm Erika, which battered that island nation last year.
“Guyana is the site for the meeting but is not chairing the meeting. Guyana is very happy to provide facilities to have CARICOM colleagues host the meeting,” said Greenidge.