ACS ministerial meeting to take place in Panama this week

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Web Posted - Tue Jan 22 2008
THE Association of Caribbean States (ACS) will launch its publi-cation The Greater Caribbean: One Sea and Twelve Nobel Prizes during its 13th Ordinary Meeting of the Ministerial Council in Panama, which begins later this week.

The meeting, which will bring together Foreign Affairs Ministers from the 25 member states comprising the ACS and their representatives in Panama City, Panama, from January 23-25, will also feature a grand cultural event when the publication will be launched.

Among other activities, delegates will review the annual reports of the Secretary General, the Chairman of the Ministerial Council and the Chairmen of the Special Committees and Special Fund; examine the associations work programme, budget, the organisational and administrative structure; sign and ratify ACS legal instruments; and approve Ministerial agreements, the organisation stated.

The meeting will also feature the elections of the fourth Secretary General, directors of the ACS Secretariat and the executive boards of the special committees and new governmental authorities.

The office of Secretary General is rotated for a period of four years. The Ministerial Council of the ACS, one of the organisations main organs, meets once per year to define courses of action, policies and programmes, to make appointments, establish statutes and guidelines governing the functioning of the ACS, and to consider applications for membership.

The opening ceremony, which is to be preceded by a two-day preparatory session, will feature an address by Secretary General of the ACS, Dr. Ruben Valdez, and one from First Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Panama, Dr. Samuel Lewis Navarro, who is serving as Chairman of the Ministerial Council. In addition, the ACS will examine the status of the situation in the Greater Caribbean, an extensive analysis of the socio-economic situation of the region based on interventions by the committees on transport, natural disasters, trade development and external economic relations, sustainable tourism, as well as budgetary and administration issues. (NC)