(BIS Photo/Kris Ingraham)

CARICOM member states are “particularly vulnerable and susceptible to the risks and threats posed by weapons of mass destruction and terrorism,” Bahamas Foreign Minister Brent Symonette said yesterday. The minister said that due to their small size, geographical configuration and limited technical and financial resources, the member states could be “soft, unsuspecting targets for would-be terrorists…and lack adequate controls and sophisticated know-how to detect the ingenious smuggling of weapons of mass destruction.”

Symonette was addressing delegates attending the Regional Workshop on the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention for policy officials from CARICOM states in New Providence. “Given the reality that terrorist events do transcend borders, it is critical that a cooperative approach in controlling and managing the global trade in strategic goods and dual use materials be forged,” he said.

–Bahamas Information Service