Your Excellency Stefan Schlüter;
Deputy Secretary-General and other Members of the Executive Management Committee; Other Members of Staff of the Secretariat
Excellency, it is always a pleasure for me to welcome the representative of a development partner country of the Caribbean Community to the Headquarters of the Community. This Ceremony, today, to accredit you as your country’s third Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community is a short but pleasant pause, in the intense three days of meetings that are being held here at the CARICOM Secretariat.
The timing is most propitious, given that you and Representatives of other International Development Partners of the Community are currently discussing here means of facilitating Caribbean development.
Excellency, Germany has been a steadfast and trusted development partner of CARICOM, supporting our efforts in a number of areas, ranging from combating the scourge of the HIV/AIDS virus – and other human development issues – to our environmental sustainability efforts.
As recently as last Thursday in Bridgetown, Barbados, the CARICOM Secretariat and the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), agreed on the concept of a new CARICOM-GTZ Project. That Project is designed to address some of the main threats posed by climate change to coastal communities and marine environments. CARICOM looks forward to the finalisation of that Project.
Excellency, Germany’s goodwill towards the Caribbean Community, is well reflected in the quality of its representation to the Community. Given your sterling credentials, the Caribbean Community embraces you with the assurance that CARICOM-German relations will continue on its currently very positive trajectory.
Your accreditation comes at a challenging but exciting time for CARICOM. This is a time when, CARICOM, unlike a number of developed countries, is struggling to recover from the global economic and financial crisis which has disproportionately affected our Member States. Also, as small island developing states and low-lying coastal states, our economies are among the most exposed to the effects of climate change with the latest research indicating a frightening economic fallout within 20 years.
But these challenges also provide opportunities for innovative solutions which can best be arrived at in partnership with development partners such as your country. In that regard, we urge Germany to support CARICOM’s position at the current United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP 16) in Cancun, Mexico as we seek to achieve international agreement on a limit to the growth of green house gas emissions to 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.5⁰C) above pre-industrial levels. For us, as small island and low-lying coastal states, it is really a maximum of 1.5 if we are to stay alive.
Excellency, it is an exciting time for CARICOM-Germany cooperation as we extend sincere congratulations to the Government and people of Germany on their success in winning a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. We of the Community are proud of the support that we gave for your election. The Caribbean Community expects that Germany will strive in this new role, to represent and advance some of the concerns of small states like ours in that important International Body.
In closing it will be remiss of me, Excellency, were I not to commend the work of your predecessor during his tenure. In his tour of duty, Ambassador Martens displayed great enthusiasm for strengthening relations between Germany and CARICOM and demonstrated a keen interest in the development and progress of CARICOM.
As we bid him farewell and thank him for his contribution to enhancing CARICOM-Germany relations, we welcome you Ambassador, his successor, with the traditional warmth of the Caribbean and with the expectation and confidence that under your stewardship, relations between our two sides will grow even stronger.
It is therefore my pleasure, Excellency, to accept your letter of credence.
