Fellow citizens of the Caribbean Community, on July 4 2004 we celebrate CARICOM Day, marking the 31st Anniversary of our integration movement. We are doing so fully cognizant that our Community at this time continues to face tough challenges, but equally aware that there are many exciting new possibilities for us opening up in our Region, our hemisphere and in the globalised world.
Guided by the political will and the technical expertise of our Governments and driven by forward-looking business people, our countries are taking some of the admittedly bold strides towards the integration of our national economies into one single economic space – the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). In this regard, the required legal and regulatory measures to be adopted by Member States are being reinforced by practical action on the part of companies and business groups. The moves towards linking the stock exchanges of several CARICOM countries, for example, will create a new, larger, more vibrant and potentially more profitable regional equities market.
The momentum of economic integration is building, and as the tangible benefits to be derived from our coming together becomes clearer, more and more of our population are coming on board. This is indeed, an encouraging development and can be seen as an inescapable response to the changing dynamics of globalisation and as an example of the rapid and deepening social and economic integration among peoples in many parts of the world.
At the same time that these economic integration advances are being made in the business field, companion initiatives are underway to enable freer movement of our peoples among Member Countries of CARICOM.
Already persons who belong to the categories of University Graduates, Sports Persons, Musicians, Artists, Managers, Supervisors and other Service Providers, are benefiting from this process. CARICOM leaders of Government in agreeing to institute a common CARIICOM passport have signaled their commitment to promoting even freer intra-regional movement by our peoples without compromising vital security considerations. That undertaking is being pursued and some light is beginning to appear in the tunnel.
The Caribbean society and economy are no strangers to the globalisation process. Their very foundation and history have been deeply embedded therein. More recently our music, our prowess in sports and excellence in the arts and other expressions of our diverse and unique cultures, continue to make an impact on the world stage greater than our individual or collective size would suggest.
As a new era of changed economic and social realities unfold globally, the vast reservoir of Caribbean peoples in the Diaspora, particularly in places such as North America and Europe, can make a signal contribution to the development of their countries of origin. For Caribbean regional integration and the many trade agreements we have signed with other countries and regional blocks, are not matters for Governments alone: They are frameworks for social and economic development created for you the Caribbean people at home and abroad, so that you can engage in, and benefit from, economic enterprises in a wider sphere.
As we mark CARICOM Day this year, Heads of Government of the Community are meeting at Grand Anse in Grenada to advance the Regional Agenda of integration and development with the ultimate goal of significantly improving the quality of life enjoyed by all our peoples.
With Grand Anse holding major historical significance as the cradle of some of the boldest integration initiatives within CARICOM, flowing from its hosting of the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in 1989, we look forward to the programmes and actions that will flow from the deliberations by the Heads of Government on this occasion.
One of the important initiatives that resulted from that earlier Grand Anse history-making meeting – the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – a principal pillar of the CSME, will in all likelihood be inaugurated shortly.
These CARICOM initiatives all require the support and participation of the major stakeholders in Caribbean society if they are to be successful. It is with the aim of encouraging such participation, including by the Diaspora, of facilitating debate and of better informing the people of the Region, that Radio CARICOM, the voice of the Caribbean Community is being launched on CARICOM Day this year. Likewise, it is to advance the sharing of knowledge, skills and expertise within CARICOM that the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network (CKLN) is also being launched on this day. These two initiatives will serve to give an impetus to the implementation of the CSME.
It is with this conviction that I wish to extend to one and all a happy and purposeful CARICOM Day 2004 as we commit ourselves to the further development of our Regional home and its people.
Happy Thirty-First Birthday CARICOM.
Contact: Huntley Medley
E-mail: hmedley@caricom.org
