Wednesday, May 13, 2009Officials Meet In The Bahamas

Oscar RamjeetCommonwealth Officials Meet In The Bahamas

Dozens of prime ministers, local government ministers and mayors from the Commonwealth have converged in Grand Bahama for a four day conference which opened Monday afternoon.

The theme of the conference is "Improving local government the commonwealth vision”. Hosted by the Government of the Bahamas, the Commonwealth Local Government Conference 2009 will highlight some of the recent thinking and innovations in local government; hear about good practice from across the Commonwealth and see case studies of successful local government projects in Grand Bahama.

This is the first time the Commonwealth Local Government Conference is being held in the Caribbean, giving politicians and practitioners for the region a unique opportunity to meet peers from across the Commonwealth and giving the rest of the Commonwealth a chance to hear about local government innovations in that region, and see examples of how small states can run successful local government. Those attending have an opportunity to contribute to the international local government thinking and CLGF's future policies and activities.

A Government Information release stated that the unique international conference is a key event for local government policy and decision makers and practitioners from the Americas and the Caribbean and across the world.

Among the speakers are Prime Minister of Bahamas, Hubert Ingraham, Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Caricom Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, Jamaica Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, and several local government ministers and Mayors, along with Sir Shridath Ramphal who will be guest speaker at the formal dinner.

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