BELMOPAN, Belize (CMC):

Prime Minister Dean Barrow is in the United States to participate in the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development.

The UN is convening the three-day summit of world leaders from June 24-26 to assess the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The organisers said the aim is to identify emergency and long-term responses to mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all UN member states.

Last month, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders agreed to the establishment of a five-member task force, headed by Barbadian economist Dr Delisle Worrell, to guide the region's response to the global economic crisis.

Focused strategy needed

Barrow said then there was 'urgent' need for CARICOM to implement "a clear and focused strategy in response to the crisis that has overtaken us".

He said the task force would look specifically at the matter of access to funds agreed to by the G-20 grouping of the world's leading industrialised states as part of a recent initiative to structure a new global environment.

"One of the immediate mandates of the task force is to ascertain exactly what the position is there and based on the information that would be forthcoming, help us design the modalities for access," Barrow told reporters.

He said the region also intends to use the upcoming special United Nations General Assembly meeting on the world economic situation to interact with high ranking officials from the G-20 countries and "to try and hammer home our point of view as to what ought to happen with these funds".