ST GEORGE'S, Grenada - The 25th annual Heads of Government Conference of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) begins with a ceremonial opening this afternoon in this spice isle to a full house of participating leaders and a packed work agenda for their four-day summit. Relations with the interim Haitian regime in Port-au-Prince, crime and security and the readiness-status of governments for inauguration of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) are high on the 15-item draft agenda. Sustainable management of the region's vital agricultural sector, including a common policy on fisheries and maritime resources, as well as the challenge to be faced by a proposed 40 per cent cut by the European Union in the price for sugar imports are also on the agenda. Secretary-general of Caricom, Edwin Carrington, told the Sunday Observer yesterday that with the exception of Haiti, he was expecting all heads of government of the 15-member community to be in Grenada and "in a mood to push ahead with our heavy workload". Yesterday, the Council of Ministers, the second highest organ of Caricom after the Heads of Government Conference, was scheduled to discuss the latest assessment of arrangements for a restructured and empowered Community Secretariat for improved efficiency and productivity. Recommendations from a five-member committee of regional technocrats, mandated by Caricom leaders to review the structure and functioning of the Georgetown-based Secretariat, formed the basis of the Council of Ministers deliberations for reporting to the Heads of Government. The Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) was winding up its meeting yesterday ahead of this afternoon's ceremonial opening of the summit. Special guests will include the secretaries general of the Commonwealth, Organisation of American States and Association of Caribbean States, as well as the representative of the secretary-general of the United Nations. Host prime minister for the summit, Keith Mitchell, who has assumed the chairmanship, will be among four heads of government to address the opening session. The others are the outgoing Caricom chairman, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda; the prime ministers of Jamaica P J Patterson and Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit, in addition to Secretary-General Carrington. SOURCE: JAMAICAOBSERVER.COM