Castries – 12 Jan., 2007 -- - Saint Lucia has been invited to take part in a regional table top exercise focusing on preparations for Cricket World Cup 2007. A Table Top exercise is a group discussion guided by a simulated disaster. Emphasis is placed upon a low stress, yet thorough, group problem solving process.

Following discussion and agreement at previous Meetings of the Bureau of Ministers of National Security and Law Enforcement, CARICOM Operational Planning and Coordinating Staff (COPACS), with the support of experts from the United Kingdom Home Office, is organising a table-top exercise to be held in Trinidad on 15 and 16 January 2007. The immediate objective of this exercise is to test and brainstorm, against a series of realistic scenarios, the strategic and operational command, control and communication arrangements and the multi-national decision-making procedures. This Table Top exercise will allow participants to play their real life roles as seriously as if they were indeed dealing with a major crisis. It will give participants an opportunity to think in advance of possible disaster occurrences during CWC 2007 and plan their anticipated responses in the context of an agreed chain of command so as to allow them to be better prepared.

The first day of the two day event will be for the relevant Prime Ministers and/or Ministers of the Region who have responsibility for security, and other stakeholder Ministers in the Region, to consider how they might structure themselves and what actions they would take at the strategic level, if confronted during CWC 2007 with critical or terrorist incidents of various scales and geographic spreads. The second day would give Chiefs of Police, Chiefs of Defense Staff and other senior staff an opportunity to consider the same scenarios at the operational level.

COPACS has devised three scenarios, of increasing levels of complexity for both days. A theme of both days would be how the strategic (regional and national) and operational levels interact with each other to protect and preserve life and resolve a crisis as quickly and effectively as possible. Return to normalcy will be a key consideration.