yola writes "CMC
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
MONTREAL, Canada (CMC) — Canada has invited Jamaica and Haiti for talks on development and security on the periphery of this month's G8 meeting here.
In a statement, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the two Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries would be among several African, Caribbean and …
… merican countries that he has invited to the talks.
The others include Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Colombia.
The two-day G8 meeting, which takes place from June 25-26, will be followed by another two-day G20 meeting in Toronto, from June 26-27.
"The G8 has a long tradition of developing credible solutions to global challenges in partnership with Africa and others in the international community," said Harper, adding that the meeting would "broaden representation and maximize results on international development and peace and security issues."
Canada's invitation to Jamaica and Haiti comes on the heels of last week's meeting in Barbados on security and other issues between US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Caricom community leaders and foreign ministers.
Over the years, Haiti has been plagued by security issues and, recently, Jamaica has had to contend with the outbreak of violence between its security forces and armed civilians loyal to fugitive Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who is wanted in the United States on drugs and gun-related charges
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