At that meeting, Aruba and the Virgin Islands officially became the 15th and 16th member countries of RADO.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, The Minister of Sports, the Hon. Glenn Philip and the President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee, Mr. Alphonzo Bridgewater, expressed their unswerving support for the mandate of WADA and for the RADO.

At the meeting, Board members were reminded of the need to enhance Board engagement for accelerating the anti-doping agenda, to increase communication with all sport-related stakeholders, and most importantly to urge member countries to pay their annual fee to the RADO, to ensure sustainability of the organization. This is critical to ensure that athletes in the region play fair, compete clean, and make their countries proud, especially in this Olympic year.

The main facilitators included RADO Chairman, Dr. Adrian Lorde, as well as WADA staff members; Mr. Tom May, Senior Manager Programme Development and Mrs. Maria Pesce Cutri, Regional Director for Latin America. Mrs Tessa Chaderton-Shaw, Executive Director of the RADO in Barbados also made several presentations to Board Members.

Board members attending the meeting included representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Caribbean RADO was formed in 2005 to ensure that member countries comply with the provisions in the World Anti-Doping Code and implement anti-doping education and doping control among the sport fraternity.

For further information, please contact Cleave Farrington, Executive Director, of the British Virgin Islands Olympic Committee at 284-494-6920.