(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Geater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the Honourable Baldwin Spencer Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda invited the thousands of visitors to Expo Zaragoza 2008 to come to the Caribbean.
Speaking at a ceremony marking CARICOM Day on Saturday 12 July at the exposition site in Zaragoza, Spain, Mr Spencer said, “I exhort all of you here today to enjoy this taste of the Caribbean as a prelude to coming to our shores and partaking of the full fare.”
CARICOM Member States are grouped together in the Caribbean Community Pavilion at the Exposition and Prime Minister Spencer noted that a daily average of more than 4,000 visitors have viewed the Pavilion since the Fair opened on 14 June and have been entertained by the cultural performances from the Region.
The popularity of the Pavilion was noted by the Commissioner General of the Exposition His Excellency Emilio Fernandez Castaño who referred to it as a “star attraction” of the event. The Commissioner General said the Caribbean represented the synthesis of the New World with influences from Europe, Africa and the Americas and were right at home in Zaragoza which itself was home to a wide cross-section of nationalities.
Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade Silvia Iranzo in her address referred to the previous day’s Fourth CARICOM-Spain Summit in Madrid and said that few countries have had such high level links with her country. She said Spain was proud to be one of the main partners in the cultural, social and economic development of the Community.
Short cultural performances from Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago punctuated the official ceremony.
The CARICOM delegation participated in the ceremonial raising of the CARICOM Standard at the Expo site and viewed the Regional Pavilion and Spanish Pavilions. In the evening, the Chairman was host at a Caribbean-style reception, including the cuisine and the music which was supplied by the Neal and Massy Trinidad All Stars steel orchestra and the Burning Flames from Antigua and Barbuda.
