US Secretary of State Pledges to work with Caribbean Community

United States Secretary of State, Dr. Condeleezza Rice, has pledged to work with Caribbean leaders on a regular basis. She was speaking during a brief meeting with Caribbean leaders at the 35th General Assembly of the Organization of American States in Fort Lauderdale recently.
While Secretary Rice has committed to future meetings in the hope of addressing the concerns of the Caribbean region, the most pressing issue was restoring stability to Haiti, this being the consensus of the group.
In an interview with JIS News, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Delano Franklyn who headed Jamaica’s delegation said Secretary Rice’s response was most encouraging in responding to the Caribbean leaders’ proposal to have more regular talks with the US. The earliest such talks could be a meeting during the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Other agenda items discussed at the meeting included security in the region, the vulnerability of Caribbean nations during natural disasters, and strategies to look into preventive and recovery measures, passport issues and the impact of deportees to the region.
Caribbean foreign ministers from some 34 member-countries were present at the three-day meeting, which was themed, “Delivering the Benefits of Democracy”.
Jamaica’s delegation also included Ambassador Gordon Shirley and Jamaica’s Consul General to the Southeast USA, Ricardo Allicock, officers of the Caribbean and America’s Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, V. Montague and Ann Scott.