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Basseterre, St. Kitts, February 4, 2021 (SKNIS): St. Kitts and Nevis Ambassador to CARICOM, His Excellency Lionel Sydney Osborne said that the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) is working and it has had a significant impact on the lives of the people of the region in general and St. Kitts and Nevis in particular.
Speaking on the weekly radio and television show ‘Working for You’ on February 3, 2021, H.E. Osborne listed the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), and IMPACS (Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) as some of the organs of CARICOM that have had major successes in the region.
“In terms of health, and more specifically, now you have the Caribbean Public Health Agency and one understands the importance of CARPHA in terms of the discussions that we must have globally and regionally,” said Ambassador Osborne, who also heads the Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister.
Ambassador Osborne said that CARPHA represents the Federation and all of the Caribbean. With the present COVID-19 pandemic, the health agency has been actively engaged internationally in ensuring that the Caribbean Community has equitable access to the vaccines that have come on stream.
He said that the CXC plays a vital role in the education of Caribbean students with regional exams at the secondary and tertiary levels, while the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) has played a major role in making an immediate and coordinated response by means of emergency disaster relief to an affected Participating State in times of natural and man-made disasters.
IMPACS he said, “is an umbrella organization that revolves around all of us so that we are not standing alone in terms of dealing with matters of security and crime.”
Additionally, Ambassador Osborne spoke about CARIFESTA’s (Caribbean Festival of Arts) unifying role in the development of the various art forms within the Community. He also mentioned CARDI (Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute). The CARDI helps in the increase in food supply to the region, food and nutrition security, reduction in hunger and poverty, and the stability of the region’s agricultural sector.
Other regional institutions of the CARICOM that St. Kitts and Nevis and the region have benefited from include the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), and the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
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