Minister of Works, Physical Development and Public Utilities Hon. Joseph Gilbert recently represented Grenada at the 5^th High Level Session of Ministers with responsibility for Water, held October 4-5, 2009, at the Marriott Resort, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  The 5^th High Level Session – part of the 18^th Annual Conference of the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) – focused on the theme “Building a Water Secured Region: a Caribbean Response”.

Keynote Presenters at the Meeting included Hon. Irfaan Ali, Minister of Housing and Water, Guyana, Dr. Edward Greene, Assistant Secretary General, CARICOM, and Dr. Letitia Obeng, Chair of the Global Water Partnership.

The principal output of the Meeting was Recommendations to be forwarded to CARICOM including that: the High Level Session be endorsed as a CARICOM Forum; a Regional Action Plan for Water be urgently developed within the context of a Common Water Framework; and that water be represented at the quasi-Cabinet level at CARICOM as a substantive portfolio.

The 6^th High Level Session and 19^th Annual Conference of the CWWA are scheduled to be hosted in Grenada by NAWASA, October 3-8, 2010.  Minister Gilbert was accompanied to the Water Meeting by the Authority’s Chairman Terrence Smith, who will function as Chairman of the 19^th Annual Conference of the CWWA.