During the day, work will be completed to prepare the Sir Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre for the opening ceremony tomorrow and also the Wyndham Gram Barbados hotel, which will host the business sessions and other key activities of the meeting next Thursday and Friday.

The Caribbean island hopes to be a worthy host for a conclave, which Caricom anticipates will be ‘of great interest’ because it will coincide with a time of major challenges in the region and should serve as an opportunity to define the approach of the integrationist group to different issues.

The theme of the meeting will be ‘Strength in Unity: Building Caribbean Resilience, Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development’ and will be led by the rotating president of the bloc and Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, together with Caricom Secretary General, Carla Barnett.

According to the program, the opening will be addressed by Presidents Dickon Mitchell (Grenada) and Reuben T. Meade (Montserrat), in addition to the Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the latter two as special guests.

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