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CARICOM media release – Sunday, August 15th, 2021

An Installation Ceremony for the new Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Dr Carla Barnett, will be held on Monday 16 August 2021, from 10:00 a.m. ECT.

The Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Hon Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda, will welcome the new Secretary-General and bring greetings from the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government.

Dr. Barnett will address the Ceremony and is expected to outline her vision and indicate some matters that will occupy her immediate attention.

Belizean Dr Barnett has served in the past as the first woman and the youngest person appointed as Deputy-Secretary of CARICOM (1997 -2002).  She is an economist who has also broken other barriers while working across the English-speaking Caribbean, including becoming the first woman appointed as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, and as Financial Secretary, in Belize.  She also worked at the Caribbean Development Bank as Country Economist and Vice President, Operations.

She is a long-time advocate for gender-equality, “not only because it is the right thing to do to create a more stable and equitable society, but also because gender equality is good economic policy”.

Dr Barnett takes over from Dominican Economist Ambassador Irwin LaRocque who served from 2011-2021.  She becomes the 8^th Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and its predecessor the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), following these other distinguished servants of the Caribbean Community:

Irwin LaRocque of Dominica                                  2011-2021

Edwin Carrington of Trinidad and Tobago            1992-2010

Roderick Rainford of Jamaica                                1983-1992

Kurleigh King of Barbados                                      1978-1983

Alister McIntyre of Grenada                                   1974-1977

William Demas of Trinidad and Tobago                1973-1974, and

1969-1973 (CARIFTA)

Frederick Cozier of Barbados                                 1968-1969 (CARIFTA)

Dr Barnett’s Installation Ceremony will be streamed live via this Link – https://youtu.be/PFj4EzWr0vw

It will also be livestreamed on the CARICOM Secretariat’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caricom.org

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