In preparation for the upcoming regional summit with US President George W. Bush on June 21 in Washington, DC., Ambassadors and Consuls General from the fifteen member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are to meet with their constituents within the next two weeks to formulate an agenda.

Billed as a 20/20 Vision Conference on the Caribbean to be convened in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC from June 19-21, 2007, leaders from the highest offices in the region from Prime Ministers to Presidents and Premiers will use this unique opportunity to go one on one with the US President on a range of topics germane to the Caribbean community.

The leadership conference and the presidential summit come at a time when much attention will be focused on the contribution of Caribbean nationals – past and present - to the development of the United States during Caribbean Heritage Month (June).

In preparing for the CARICOM Leaders Summit, members of the Diplomatic Corp will be going cross country, meeting with constituents in an effort to better gauge their concerns and agenda items.

Using the very effective town hall format, Caribbean New Yorkers will meet on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 pm at the Polytechnic University (Dibner Auditorium), 5 Metrotech Center on Jay Street, downtown Brooklyn.

Following yesterday’s meeting of the New York Caribbean Consular Corp to finalize plans for the town hall meting, Jamaica’s Consul General and former chairman, Dr. Basil K. Bryan, said that the town hall meeting and the upcoming leaders conference, will go a far way in strengthening relationships within the Caribbean American Diaspora.

Dr. Bryan pointed out that as the region comes together as a single market and economy, the strengthening of relationships with the United States was pivotal. He said that the shared legacy of the Cricket World Cup championship currently underway in the region, will help to accelerate the realization of ‘one Caribbean’.

From New York, the next meeting stop will be at the West Indian Social Club, Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, March 30, at 6:30 pm. The Pennsylvania meeting will take place at the New Testament Church Of God, 935 Rev Felix Poyser Way (South 53rd Street), Philadelphia, on Saturday, March 31, 2007 starting at 7:00 pm.