(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, has issued a charge to the Region to stave off existing challenges by strengthening “our commitment to integration as the only way for us all to survive and prosper.”
The Secretary-General was at the time addressing the opening ceremony of the Twenty-Fourth Intersessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM at the Karibe Hotel in Petion Ville, Haiti on Monday.
Haiti is hosting the two-day Meeting for the first time since it became a member of the Community in 2002. Haiti assumed the Chairmanship of CARICOM in January as the Community began observing its 40th anniversary.
“Let the strength and resilience of the Haitian people be a guide and inspiration as we go forward in the next 40 years,” the Secretary-General said.
He added that as the Community looked back with “justifiable pride” in its achievements over the last 40 years, it must embrace the promise of the future through new ideas and perspectives, since the achievement of the past was no guarantee of success in the future.
Change with the times
The Secretary-General told his audience that the Community needed to change with the times, since the circumstances, society, and the nature of the challenges which fashioned its approach to integration had changed.
“As we go forward to the next 40 years, in accepting that the imperative for integration of our small states is undeniable, we also have to accept that we must change our modes of operation if we are to deliver to our people the standard of living they desire,” Amb. LaRocque said.
He pointed out that for integration to make an impact among the people, change “must be pervasive and embrace all facets of the work of the Community.”
Change has already begun at the CARICOM Secretariat, the administrative body of the Community, with a change facilitation team in place there following a mandate from the Heads of Government. Reviews have already been conducted at Regional Security Institutions, while the programme of reviews will continue with other institutions and organisations involved in integration arrangements.
