AMBASSADOR LOLITA APPLEWHAITE TO ACT AS CARICOM SECRETARY-GENERAL

Georgetown December 17- The Chairman of CARICOM, the Hon. Bruce Golding, has announced that Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, will act as Secretary-General with effect from 1 January 2011 pending the selection and appointment of a new Secretary-General to succeed His Excellency Sir Edwin Carrington who will retire at the end of the year.

The Search Committee chaired by Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Maxine McClean, which was established to identify suitable candidates to fill the post of Secretary-General submitted a progress report to the Bureau of Heads of Government on 17 November. CARICOM Heads of Government have approved the recommendation of the Bureau for the Search Committee to continue its search, review applications and conduct interviews with a view to submitting its recommendations to the Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government scheduled to be held in Grenada in late February/early March 2011. CARICOM Heads of Government further agreed that, in the interim, Ambassador Applewhaite would act as Secretary-General.

Ambassador Applewhaite, a Barbadian national with vast experience in the diplomatic service, is a former Director of the Centre for International Studies at the Cave Hill Campus of the UWI. She has served as Deputy Secretary-General of CARICOM since 2003.

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