John nominated for Secretary General of CARICOM

St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Ambassador to Caricom Ellsworth John is among five persons who have been nominated for the post of Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).{{more}}

After 18 years in the post, Secretary General Sir Edwin Carrington, a Trinidadian, will demit office on December 31.

Ambassador John, who is also the Director of this country’s Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit (RIDU), was nominated for the post by the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

John is going up against four other nominees from around the region. They are: Henry Mac Donald, Suriname’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN);

Irwin La Rocque of Dominica, who is Caricom’s Assistant Secretary General for Regional Trade and Economic Integration; Dr. Carla Barnett of Belize who is a former Caricom Deputy Secretary General; and Ambassador Edwin Laurent, a former diplomatic representative of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

Nominations are being submitted to Barbados’ Foreign Minister, Maxine Mc Lean, who is heading a 9-person search-committee. The search committee also includes Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr Surujrattan Rambachan; Vincentian businessman Ormiston Ken Boyea; Principal of the Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Barbadian Professor Hillary Beckles; and Principal of the Mona campus of the UWI Professor Gordon Shirley.

No national of an OECS member nation has been Secretary General, except for Sir Alister Mc Intrye of Grenada from 1974 to 1977.

CARICOM Chairman Bruce Golding announced that Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite will act as Secretary-General of the Regional body with effect from 1 January 2011, pending the selection and appointment of a new Secretary-General.

A decision on the person to succeed Sir Edwin is expected to be made at the next inter-sessional meeting of CARICOM scheduled for February, 2011.