Gaston Browne to sworn in as the new chairman of CARICOM

Antigua and Barbuda: Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda, Gaston Browne, appointed as next chairman of CARICOM from Monday, 5 July 2021, will serve for the next six months.

Notably, He will succeed Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr.Keith Rowley.

The Antigua and Barbuda PM Browne hold responsibility for Services in the CARICOM Quasi Cabinet.

Moreover, He will chair the virtual Forty-second Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.

Additionally, The 1973 establishment of CARICOM was intended to further cooperation and to improve the confidence-building mechanisms which the sovereign and non-independent countries of the Anglophone Caribbean could reasonably achieve.

PM Browne said, “The CARICOM today exceeds the expectations of the generation of the anti-colonial leaders who constructed the cooperative framework.”

“My generation of leaders, faced with new challenges, will continue to expand the role of CARICOM and the intensity of the friendship of our peoples,” he added.

The new CARICOM chairman is expected to tackle certain issues during his tenure; these include the reduction of intra-regional air travel taxes, the potential for a regional medicinal cannabis market and the sustained threat to regional development with respect to de-risking.

The official opening session of this year’s conference will include remarks from Browne, as well as outgoing CARICOM Chairman, Dr Keith Rowley, and CARICOM Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque.

The forthcoming meeting will be Ambassador LaRocque’s last in the role, as he is set to be succeeded by Dr Carla Barnett, the 1st woman and Belizean to be selected for the post.

She will assume office on August 15 and become the 8th Secretary-General in CARICOM’s history.

CARICOM, the new chairman, has various challenges, including vaccine procurement and affectively fight for against this virus.

Apart from this, Hurricane Elsa has critically affected the many CARICOM countries, to make some relief, all eyes on the new Chairman Browne.

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