When regional heads of Government meet here at the end of the month, their agenda will be a mixture of business and pleasure all geared towards deepening the regional integration movement.

At the official opening ceremony on June 30 three of the Protocols amending the Treaty of Chaguaramus will be signed and four persons will be honoured - ANR Robinson, Lester Bird, Sir Philip Sherlock, and Sir Garfield Sobers. Tuesday’s programme will also showcase local talents.

Sports and communication have played a major role in regional integration and on the evening of July 1 the development of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, the Caribbean News Agency and the West Indies Cricket team will be traced by way of three video presentations.

On that evening, 25 regional sports personalities will be honoured.

Cletus Springer – CARICOM Preparatory Committee - "We’ve brought in a panel of sports writers and sports editors and sports enthusiasts, to look at the selections and put together a final list."

The voices of major Caribbean writers will feature in a production dubbed "The REAL THING" on July 2, which celebrates CARICOM’s Silver anniversary and the experiences of Caribbean people.

Kendal Hippolyte is the co-ordinator of the production – "It starts off with this taxi driver showing a tourist couple the sights … but they want to see the real Caribbean. To do that he takes them back in time to the old Caribbean and then brings them forward bit by bit... Showing us different aspects of Caribbean life, ourselves, our problems, our sorrows, our joys and so on."

But it is the closing ceremony on Saturday July 4 that is expected to attract the most attention. That’s when President Nelson Mandela will make his public address. There will be a music extravaganza reflecting the evolutionary development of music in the Caribbean.

"For that reason we will have some entertainers of the past mixed in with entertainers of the now generation," says McSteven Aubertine who is responsible for the closing ceremony.