Plan­ning and De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has of­fi­cial­ly as­sumed the po­si­tion of chair­man of the Bu­reau of the 30th Ses­sion of the Caribbean De­vel­op­ment and Co­op­er­a­tion Com­mit­tee (CD­CC) from 2024 to 2026.

Al­bert Ramdin, Min­is­ter of For­eign Af­fairs of Suri­name, was the pre­vi­ous chair­man from 2022.

As chair­man, Beck­les is en­trust­ed with lead­er­ship from 2024, dri­ving the CD­CC’s ob­jec­tives to pro­mote and strength­en eco­nom­ic and so­cial co­op­er­a­tion and in­te­gra­tion among the coun­tries of the Caribbean Latin Amer­i­ca; share in­for­ma­tion and ex­pe­ri­ences among mem­bers; and pro­mote com­mon po­si­tions and strate­gies on eco­nom­ic and so­cial is­sues among Caribbean na­tions.

The Bu­reau, which com­pris­es a chair­man, three vice-chair­men and a Rap­por­teur, shall hold of­fice for the pe­ri­od 2024 to 2026, un­til the con­ven­ing of the next reg­u­lar ses­sion of the CD­CC, in 2026.

Beck­les is al­so ex­pect­ed to host the next ses­sion of the CD­CC, in 2024.

The mem­ber coun­tries are An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, Ba­hamas, Bar­ba­dos, Be­lize, Cu­ba, Do­mini­ca, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, Grena­da, Guyana, Haiti, Ja­maica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lu­cia, Saint Vin­cent and the Grenadines, Suri­name, and T&T.

As­so­ciate mem­bers of the CD­CC in­clude An­guil­la, Aru­ba, Bermu­da, British Vir­gin Is­lands, Cay­man Is­lands, Cu­raçao, Guade­loupe, Mar­tinique, Montser­rat, Puer­to Ri­co, St Maarten, Turks and Caicos Is­lands, and Unit­ed States Vir­gin Is­lands.

A state­ment yes­ter­day said Beck­les, along with For­eign and Fi­nance Min­is­ters from An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, Montser­rat, Suri­name, St Lu­cia, St Vin­cent and the Grenadines and Bar­ba­dos, par­tic­i­pat­ed in the 21st Ses­sion of the Mon­i­tor­ing Com­mit­tee of the CD­CC, which al­so fea­tured a sem­i­nar on ‘Po­si­tion­ing the Caribbean in the Knowl­edge Econ­o­my: the Role of Da­ta’, which was held in Port-of-Spain from No­vem­ber 1 to 3, 2023.

As chair­man of the com­mit­tee, T&T stands to ben­e­fit from shared ideas to cre­ate bet­ter co­or­di­nat­ed and re­sourced da­ta ecosys­tems, in­clud­ing how the Caribbean should ap­proach in­no­va­tion in da­ta sci­ence to in­form bet­ter de­ci­sion-mak­ing in the pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tors.

The state­ment said there are al­so op­por­tu­ni­ties for co­op­er­a­tion in the adop­tion of con­crete mea­sures aimed at the sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment of the mem­ber coun­tries of the CD­CC, as well as the pro­mo­tion of ini­tia­tives to strength­en co­op­er­a­tion.

It said T&T for the time frame will al­so guide a “think-tank” ap­proach in sup­port of sus­tain­able hu­man de­vel­op­ment, em­brac­ing the eco­nom­ic, so­cial and en­vi­ron­men­tal di­men­sions of de­vel­op­ment in the Caribbean.

In the po­si­tion of chair­man, T&T will al­so steer the CD­CC’s role as an ad­vi­so­ry and con­sul­ta­tive body to the Ex­ec­u­tive Sec­re­tary of ECLAC on is­sues of par­tic­u­lar rel­e­vance to the Caribbean sub re­gion.

Up­on re­ceipt of the chair­man­ship, Beck­les said, “Trinidad and To­ba­go ac­cepts the chair­man­ship of the 30th Ses­sion of the Caribbean De­vel­op­ment and Co­op­er­a­tion Com­mit­tee with a strong com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing col­lab­o­ra­tion, di­a­logue, and progress among our mem­ber na­tions. To­geth­er, we will work to­wards our com­mon goals. To this end, Trinidad and To­ba­go looks for­ward to a pro­duc­tive and har­mo­nious tenure.”