23851: Hermantin (News) Caribbean leaders will speak at meeting on regional issues (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Posted on Mon, Dec. 06, 2004


MIAMI


Caribbean leaders will speak at meeting on regional issues

A Miami conference on the Caribbean Basin is expected to draw more than 500
business and political leaders, including eight government heads.

BY MICHAEL A.W. OTTEY

mottey@herald.com


Eight heads of government from the Caribbean Basin will address a three-day
conference in Miami this week that will focus on regional issues ranging
from trade integration to hurricane preparedness.

More than 500 business leaders from the region and top U.S. government
officials are also expected to attend the 28th annual Miami Conference on
the Caribbean Basin, which starts today at the Hotel Inter-Continental in
downtown Miami.

Sponsored by Caribbean-Central American Action, or CCAA, a private
organization that promotes economic development, the conference will feature
seminars on free trade, regional integration, global competition, the fight
against poverty, the region's links to Florida, the ongoing crisis in Haiti
and other issues.

The conference opens tonight with addresses by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and
Guatemalan President Oscar Berger.

Vincent DeVito, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and
Alvaro Stein, general manager of Banco Uno Guatemala, will also deliver
remarks.

On Tuesday, the early speakers will be Jamaican Prime Minister P.J.
Patterson, Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños and Enrique Iglesias,
president of the Inter-American Development Bank. A seminar on Haiti and the
Dominican Republic will hear from Henri Bazin, Haiti's finance minister.

In the evening, participants will hear from President Tony Saca of El
Salvador and U.S. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Terry Cross.

FLORIDA'S GOVERNOR

On Wednesday, Gov. Jeb Bush will address the conference in a breakfast talk
titled ''Florida and Caribbean Basin: Partners for Growth,'' to be followed
by Honduran President Ricardo Maduro, said Charles J. Skuba, CCAA's director
of strategic planning and development.

President Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic and interim Haitian
Prime Minister Gérard Latortue, whose nations share the island of
Hispaniola, will address the final dinner.

Skuba said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega withdrew from the
list of speakers at the last minute and will be represented by Deputy
Assistant Secretary Charles Shapiro.

Skuba said the conference's theme, ''An Integrated Third Border,'' reflects
the core of the organization's advocacy for strengthening the Caribbean
Basin -- sometimes described as the United States' third border after Canada
and Mexico -- through increased investment and economic development.

U.S. national security and strategic interests require that the United
States work with the region to address common concerns, Skuba said in a
telephone interview from CCAA's offices in Washington.

The conference ''will address a broad range of subjects in public-policy
areas and in specific industries,'' Skuba said.

``To talk about integration and business standards will help make the region
more attractive.''

FOCUS ON HAITI

Skuba noted that Haiti will be given special attention in this year's
seminars, because of its ongoing crisis after the Feb. 29 ouster of
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

''It's at a critical period,'' he said. ``Haiti continues to be a tragedy,
and you can't delay in addressing this tragedy. Haiti is the most glaring
problem in the region as a whole, and we can't ignore it.''

``We have an opportunity this year before the election [in Haiti] to make
some improvements across a number of subject areas, whether it be the
environment, creating jobs or improving the partnership with Florida.''