(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) His Excellency Edwin Carrington will pay an official visit to the island of St Maarten from 24-26 April, 2008 in a joint mission with the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC).

 
During the mission, the Secretary-General and President of the CAIC, Mr. Nigel John will meet with the business community and the Executive Council of Sint Maarten on the Dutch side of the island as well as the Government of the French side of the island, Saint Martin. CARICOM Assistant Secretary-General Human and Social Development Dr Edward Greene will also take part in the mission.
 
This marks the second outreach visit to the Dutch Caribbean by the Secretary-General in recent times following a successful mission to Curacao last September which resulted in a delegation from the Netherlands Antilles attending the Sixteenth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in October 2007. That meeting conferred Observer Status on the Netherlands Antilles in COHSOD.
 
The Netherlands Antilles and Sint Maarten are members of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/Aids (PANCAP) which is a CARICOM initiative and during this visit, the mission will receive an update on efforts on the island to combat HIV/Aids.