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Bahamian Prime Minister for CARICOM Leaders Distinguished Open Lecture at UWI

For Release Upon Receipt - April 1, 2014

St. Augustine


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad & Tobago – The Rt Hon Perry Gladstone Christie, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, will deliver a Distinguished Open Lecture, discussing his views on the role of The Bahamas in CARICOM on April 7, 2014 at 5.30pm at the Daaga Auditorium, The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus. 

The lecture is the second in a series at The UWI St. Augustine, focusing on CARICOM: exploring its usefulness to the region and its future, following its 40th anniversary celebrations under a year ago. Secretary-General Ambassador Irwin LaRocque delivered the first lecture in October 2013.  

Prime Minister Christie will speak to the issues of CARICOM as a regional, hemispheric and world force. He will argue that nations of the region are stronger by standing together. His view is that collectively we can improve our economies, share, enhance and enrich our culture and civilisation by acting in concert. He believes that this cooperation and exchange should be strengthened from Bermuda to Suriname. The Prime Minister also believes that there should be an outreach to the dependent territories as well.  

Bahamian Prime Minister Christie was born and schooled in Nassau, New Providence, the nation’s capital. He pursued his professional education in the UK where he read Law and graduated with Honours from Birmingham University in 1969. He is both the third and fifth Prime Minister of the Bahamas. He is believed to be the youngest Senator ever appointed in the Bahamas, having been appointed by then Prime Minister the Rt Hon Lynden Pindling in 1974. This year marks 40 years of service to the Bahamas, during which time he held several key ministerial portfolios.  

Prime Minister Christie is deeply committed to the institution that is CARICOM. He is a strong advocate of an open, honest and frank dialogue with the developed world, and in particular of a structured dialogue with all the major players in the region and the hemisphere. He will argue that we must learn to better leverage the advantage of our numbers on the world stage.  

The lecture is free, and open to the public. All are invited. 

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About The UWI 

Since its inception in 1948, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged, regional University with well over 50,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest, most longstanding Higher Education Institute (HEI) in the Commonwealth Caribbean, with four campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Open Campus. The UWI has faculty and students from more than 40 countries and collaborative links with 160 universities globally; it offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. UWI’s seven priority focal areas are linked closely to the priorities identified by CARICOM and take into account such over-arching areas of concern to the region as environmental issues, health and wellness, gender equity and the critical importance of innovation.  

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.) 

For the latest UWI News, click http://sta.uwi.edu/news.

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