Colleague Heads and Representatives of Community and other Regional Institutions, Friends All.
For me it is really a great pleasure to welcome you all to the Headquarters of the Caribbean Community. As Secretary-General, I frequently welcome partners, stakeholders and guests to the Secretariat. Today, however, there is a special resonance to my greeting, for really the greeting is to members of the family of Institutions of the Community, all mandated and dedicated in their various domains to improving the quality of life of the people of the Caribbean Community.
In many ways today’s Meeting is historic, for it is the first such assembly of Regional Institutions in the 34-year life of the Caribbean Community. Overdue perhaps; but certainly timely, coming at a time when more than ever, our Caribbean Community is in urgent need of deeper co-operation and collaboration – the very goal of this Inaugural Meeting.
At its Twenty-Eighth Regular Meeting in Barbados last July, The Conference of Heads of Government issued “the Declaration of Needham’s Point” entitled, A Community for All. In that document, our Leaders outlined the Community’s new thrust, which places Functional Co-operation, at the heart of the regional integration process. In that context, they recognised the critical need for a comprehensive review of regional institutions, better to provide common services and coordination of policies and programmes, within the Community. And it is that mandate, which we are preparing to address through this initial meeting.
That apart, for some time now, as Chief Executive Officer of the Community, I had been giving serious consideration to the need to strengthen the relationship between the CARICOM Secretariat and the various Community Institutions, with a view to enhancing the collaboration and cooperation that already exists among us. This need I saw as becoming more pressing as the Community launched its Single Market in January 2006 and it is likely to become even more so, as the process of establishing the framework for the Single Economy by 2008 intensifies.
The efficient functioning of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) in the dynamic global environment will certainly require the more effective harnessing of the Institutions and Agencies of the Community. From that standpoint, as well therefore the major objective of this first encounter of the Community’s Institutions generally speaking must be a frank exchange of views on the broad vision for the development of the Community and on the contribution that these Institutions can make towards achieving that vision.
In that regard, there are a number of important documents which could assist us in our deliberations. Among them are the Report edited by Professor Norman Girvan entitled “Towards a Single Development Vision and the Role of the Single Economy” and the “Report of the Technical Working Group on the Governance of the Caribbean Community”, by the Technical Working Group headed by Professor Vaughan Lewis. The foundation document is, of course, the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
A related critical aspect of our discussions is the more efficient financing of our Institutions. This issue also calls for sharper focus to the determination of priorities, bearing in mind that the resources are far from being unlimited.
I therefore urge that we use this opportunity to enhance our collaboration by exchanging ideas on our respective Work Programmes, with a view hopefully to developing a framework within which we can pursue common goals, avoid duplication of effort, and develop synergies, all in the implementation of Programmes and Projects.
It is my hope therefore, colleagues, that today’s landmark event taking place here in the host country of the Caribbean Community, Guyana will be a starting point and indeed become a biennial event and a forum for continuous dialogue and consequent concerted action.
I am therefore looking forward to two days of innovative, creative and fruitful discussions to which I warmly invite you to roll up our sleeves and let’s get down to the business at hand.
I thank you.
