A PILOT radio network, called 'Radio CARICOM' will begin broadcasting in Barbados, Belize and St Lucia in March. Speaking at the CARICOM Secretariat end-of-year press conference in Georgetown last week, Deputy CARICOM Secretary-General Lolita Applewhaite said the radio network was in keeping with a mandate from the Heads of Government at their meeting in Montego Bay in July.
She said that the March launching, organised by the Technical Action Services Unit (TASU), will start rolling out to other countries after a six-month testing period. She said public education and awareness were important parts of the Secretariat's work aimed at involving the region's people in the development and integration initiatives now taking place. She said last week's press conference, which was aired on a number of radio stations throughout the region, was one such means of facilitating public awareness.
OTHER ISSUES
On other issues, she said that TASU had carried out consultations in the Bahamas with media professionals and representatives of the services sector to raise awareness on CARICOM affairs and to promote the concept of a methodology for institutional strengthening among service sector entities.
The Bahamas has not signed on to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). As a long-term response, posed by language difficulties among member states such as Haiti and Suriname, TASU is working on an English language programme for Haitian officials, and a workshop and training attachment for media professional and communications specialists in Suriname for the coming year.
The goal of TASU is to facilitate decision-making and implementation in member states and has developed the capacity to exercise a quick response mechanism to technical implementation difficulties experienced by member states in the process of complying with regional decisions, Applewhaite said.
