Haiti first stop Bouterse

(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Haiti is the first stop of President Desi Bouterse’s upcoming tour of CARICOM countries as the regional block’s chairman. He will be accompanied by both the former and incoming chairs. Given Haiti’s serious social, economic and political problems, developments in that country are high on CARICOM’s agenda, Winston Lackin Foreign Affairs Minister tells de Ware Tijd by phone from Nicaragua, where a Surinamese delegation attended yesterday’s inauguration of President Daniel Ortega. Later this week, Bouterse travels to Guatemala to attend the inauguration of that country’s recently elected President. Bouterse’s itinerary will be put together in cooperation with the CARICOM Secretariat. The Community Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the three countries that are currently leading the block is to meet on 8 and 9 February in Guyana to set the agenda for the Inter-sessional CARICOM Summit. That meeting will be held in Paramaribo early March. Lackin says that the President will also hold bilateral talks with other Heads of State present in Managua and Guatemala City. Bouterse will establish these contacts not only as President of Suriname, but as CARICOM chairman as well. Lackin points out that integration processes between CARICOM and Latin America are ongoing and the two regions have formal ties with each other. One of Bouterse’s tasks as CARICOM chairman is also to strengthen and expand the organization’s external relations. On Monday, Bouterse, his wife and Minister Lackin visited Ortega. The two leaders had a brief meeting and discussed bilateral relations between their countries.