(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) As the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) begins its 40th year of existence, I wish the people of all Member States a year of peace and prosperity. I am particularly pleased that, for the first time, my country, Haiti, is serving as Chairman of CARICOM.
January 1st, 2013 also marks the 209th anniversary of the Independence of Haiti under the banner of freedom and Unity. It is also in Unity, regional integration, that all Member States of the Community can overcome serious economic, environmental, and social challenges affecting the region. I therefore invite Member States to converge their efforts in order to achieve the necessary structural changes to increase the well-being of our peoples.
In my capacity as Chairman of the Community, I resolutely commit myself and my country to this noble and urgent necessity. Haiti gladly embraces this opportunity to provide leadership to the integration process for the next six months, and looks forward to help strengthen the Caribbean Community. During Haiti’s Chairmanship, we shall also endeavour to promote sustainable development policies based on an effective cooperation strategy.
In so doing, I will be building upon the sterling work of my predecessor, the Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, Dr. The Honourable Kenny Anthony. I will also call on the support of the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the third member of the Bureau of Heads of Government, as well as on the other Heads of State and Government.
As CARICOM celebrates its Fortieth year of existence, there is ample evidence that the Community constitutes a useful mechanism to facilitate integration within the region. As small vulnerable States in a competitive economic environment, our task is to ensure that CARICOM constitutes a bulwark that will protect its Member States in this formidable global environment.
As I said in my maiden speech at the Thirty-Second Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of State and Government in St Kitts and Nevis in July 2011: “The true strength of the Caribbean resides in its plural and multidimensional culture.” We must be prepared to leverage that strength with all our development partners to create a common platform from which our Member States can co-operate.
I am aware that, within this framework, Haiti must accelerate its integration into CARICOM. I am thus committed to contribute to CARICOM's strengthening and to improve Haiti's integration during Haiti's tenure as Chairman of CARICOM.
It is in that spirit that I will welcome Heads of State and Government to Haiti next February to discuss the future of the Community at the XXIVth Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of CARICOM.
