(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ambassador Irwin LaRocque on Tuesday charged the Community Council to equip the CARICOM Secretariat to be the change agent it required.
Delivering an address at the opening of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Council, the Secretary-General said that the Secretariat appreciated the challenging circumstances which Member States faced, and it had responded to those challenges by freezing its budget from 2008 to 2010 and having its budget cut in 2011.
He noted, however, any further cuts without prioritizing mandates, would weaken the efficiency of the Secretariat, given the resources that were available.
Ensuring an adequately resourced Secretariat was essential, Secretary-General LaRocque said, against the backdrop of the demands by CARICOM Heads of Government that the actions of the Community “must make a meaningful impact on the ground.”
“There is an urgent call for us to do things differently if we are to deliver what is expected of us,” Ambassador LaRocque said, adding that the changes, which are expected to flow from the proposals to restructure the Secretariat, must be welcomed.
“Changes will have to be managed, it will not be easy; it will definitely required a new mindset; a new way of doing things,” the Secretary-General stated.
He told The Council that the staff of the Secretariat had the tenacity for the tasks ahead. “They plough through long hours and are committed to their tasks.”
“However, are we organised to do what is required? Do we have our priorities right? Are we capable of rendering the service that our Member States and Associate Members require given the resources at our disposal? These are some of the tough questions that must be faced and answered as we go forward,” Secretary-General LaRocque stated.
Adding to Ambassador LaRocque’s charge, Chair of the Council, The Honourable Winston Lackin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Suriname, emphasised the need for the Community to intensify its efforts to implement decisions, as a matter of surviving in the current global environment.
Calling for “structural changes” he stated: “it is time for the organisation to do things differently; we need to change our ideas and our attitudes.” Minister Lackin added that it was incumbent on The Council to “think outside of the box” in developing ideas for CARICOM enterprises which will guarantee the financial sustainability of the Secretariat and CARICOM Institutions.
He expressed the hope that meeting would arrive at decisions to present to the CARICOM Heads of Government when they meet for the Twenty-Third Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, in Suriname early March that would “get the Community out of the situation it is in.”
“The situation looks bad, but it is a challenge for the Region to join forces to find solutions for the survival of our Region,” Minister Lackin stated.
