NEWS RELEASE

Prime Minister meets with Community Leaders in New York

Monday June 18^th 2007, St. George’s: Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. the Rt. Hon. Keith Mitchell has praised the efforts of the Grenadian community in New York, in helping to attract investment to Grenada and in promoting Grenada on the international stage. At a meeting organized by Grenada’s General Consul in New York, the Honourable Allen McGuire, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. the Right Honourable Keith Mitchell met with over one hundred Grenadian community leaders for a working luncheon at a packed hall in Brooklyn on Saturday 16^th of June.

At the head table the Prime Minister was flanked by Excellencies Dr. Angus Friday and Dr. Lamuel Stanislaus, Grenada’s current and former ambassadors to the United Nations, The Honourable Allen McGuire the Consul General, Mrs. Jocelyn Sylvester Gairy the Director oft he Board of Tourism and Mr. Roy Hastick, founder and president of the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Prime Minister focused his discussion on the development of education in the tri-island state of Grenada Carriacou and Petit Martinique.

The Prime Minister highlighted the following:

a. Education has been one of the central pillars in the policies of his government. The Prime Minister said that each and every single child should not only have the right to a basic education, but should go on to further studies either in Grenada or abroad.

b. The success of TAMCC as a model institution within the Caribbean was highlighted. This institution is already providing higher education for hundreds of Grenadians and plans are afoot to make further improvements.

c. St. George’s University now has hundreds of Grenadian students throughout the various faculties such as Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Arts and Sciences.

d. Grenada has already created a number of scholarships for students currently studying in the United States and elsewhere.

e. Efforts are being made to attract more scholarships to the island and in this regard the Prime Minister is spearheading a special international University programme to help make this happen.

f. In addition to the presence of TAMCC and St. George’s University, Grenada is also developing an important academic and technology infrastructure that will to attract more international interest in Grenada as a centre of excellence for education.

g. In this regard, The Prime Minister relayed to the audience the fact that he was selected by other Caribbean leaders to provide leadership to the development of science and technology in the Caribbean region by heading the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network.

h. Whilst the Caribbean did not initially have the satellite footprint to allow for this to happen, CKLN was able to attract some ten million euros from the European Union to ensure that the proper broadband communication linkages could be established.

i. Grenada will serve as the hub for this network which will link tertiary colleges and universities throughout the region and will allow for the development of knowledge-based economies in the region as more students connected to the network through computers.

j. Grenadian students and the Grenadian economy will be among the first to benefit from this development.

The Prime Minister’s comments were welcomed by the large audience. Several audience members echoed the Prime Minister’s sentiments and stated that they too had benefited from Government’s thrust to secure scholarships and training opportunities.