Pierre Prepares to Take CARICOM Chairmanship July 1 With Front-Loaded Leaders' Retreat

Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre is set to assume the rotating chairmanship of CARICOM on July 1, and he has redesigned the bloc’s upcoming 51st Heads of Government summit to front-load its closed-door leaders’ retreat. The retreat will run on July 6, immediately after the ceremonial opening at Sandals Saint Lucia, rather than at the end of proceedings as in past years.

Pierre says the change is meant to foster frank, uncompromised dialogue among delegations before the rigid mechanics of formal business begin. For the Saint Lucian and wider Caribbean diaspora, the chairmanship puts a Castries voice at the head of regional decision-making on crime, climate finance, and trade at a moment of intense external pressure on the smallest member states.

Source: HGPTV Regional News; Office of the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia.