Continue search for solutions to challenges – Acting Chair of COTED

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana)     Delegates to the 38th Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) were encouraged to continue to search for solutions to the various challenges that beset the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) with conviction and confidence.
Acting Chairman of the COTED, the Hon. Alva Baptiste, Minister of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation of Saint Lucia, delivered the charge on Friday morning in remarks at the opening ceremony of the two-day Meeting at the Pegasus Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana.
Minister Baptiste, who is acting Chairman in the unavoidable absence of the Hon. Wilson Laleau, Minister of Trade and Industry of Haiti, referred to changes in the international arena, including the turbulent economic situation, and their effects on the Community.  He described the Community as a “veteran” that had survived the constant international changes, and called for the continuation of a “restless search” for solutions.
The matter of change and the Region’s approach to reform, were points of reference of Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary-General of CARICOM, who also spoke at the opening ceremony.  The Secretary-General placed emphasis on the Reform Process that is underway in the Community, and stressed the need for prioritization and a focus on a few strategic priorities which would make a difference to the region’s sustainable growth and development. The Community’s first ever Five-Year Strategic Plan, which seeks to identify strategic priorities, will be presented to the 35th CARICOM Heads of Government  Meeting in July.
“Change is nothing new to our Community.  We have progressed from a Free Trade Area to a Common Market and now to a Single Market and Economy, and we have done fairly well. We have always sought to position ourselves to adapt to and benefit from the global environment.  We have done so in a deliberate, yes, sometimes slow manner which tries to take into account the interests of all our constituent parts. 
“Through every formulation our integration arrangements have become stronger.  Let us therefore now embrace this Reform Process at every level and ensure that our Community emerges even stronger and provides our people with a secure, viable and prosperous future,” Ambassador LaRocque said.