Mr. Chairman,

On behalf of the Caribbean delegations present here at this Assembly, we wish to express our approval of the convening of a diplomatic Conference on the protection of rights of broadcasting organizations to take place in Geneva during the second quarter of 2006, provided that the International Bureau has not received an advantageous offer by a member state to host such a conference, which will be considered by all the member states. We also approve the organizational and procedural matters of the Diplomatic Conference as laid out in the relevant annexes within the document that was prepared by the Secretariat on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. We approve the financial arrangements as proposed and agree that the basic proposal for the diplomatic conference be prepared by the Chairman of the twelfth session of the Standing Committee on Copyrights and related rights in conjunction with WIPO. We also agree that the thirteenth session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights be held in November 2005.

The Caribbean Countries recognize the importance of development in the protection of broadcasting organizations rights and favour balanced protection that takes into account interests of all stakeholders. In light of fact that the World cup of the glorious game of cricket will be hosted by the Caribbean region in 2007, and that the protection of rights for broadcasting, simulcasting, and web-casting are issues that are addressed in the various agreements and supporting legislation in relation to the forth coming World Cup, we recognise the urgent need for the immediate update of the rights of broadcasting organizations through an international instrument. The discussions on the text of the proposed treaty have been on going since 1998, and we are pleased to note that an attempt was made to speed up the process through the organization of six regional meetings that were held during the period May to July 2005. Therefore, in our view, the next logical step towards the development of this international instrumen t would be the convening of a diplomatic conference.