Your Excellency Arthur N.R. Robinson, OCC, President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
The Hon. Basdeo Panday, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government
Other Distinguished Heads of State and Government
Distinguished Prime Minister of Spain
President of the Senate of Trinidad and Tobago
Hon. Speaker of the House of Trinidad and Tobago
Hon. Chief Justice
Hon. Ministers of Government
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth
Director-General of the FAO
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Other Distinguished Delegates
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Members of the Media
It is a pleasure to welcome you here today in Trinidad and Tobago where it all began 26 years ago, to participate in the Opening Ceremony of this the Twentieth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. It is the last such Meeting of this Supreme Authority of the Integration Movement in this Century. As we gather here, the Community is saddened by the passing of one of the stalwarts of the Regional integration movement, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Sr, KNH, OCC, former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. In conveying our sympathy to the bereaved family of the late VC Bird, and to the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda, I invite you all to rise for one minute of silence in his memory. Thank you.
I would also like to take this occasion to extend our best wishes for the speedy return to full health of Her Excellency Janet Jagan, President of the Republic of Guyana.
The passing of VC – as he is affectionately known within the Caribbean family – signals the close of a major chapter in the history of our integration movement, one that started at Montego Bay in 1947 and continued through to the Federation, the West Indies Associated States, the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA), on to today’s Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). V.C. Bird’s physical and political stature loomed large throughout this entire process. He was at the very least a co-author of both the prologue and the text of this chapter of the history of our integration process.
He has left for us the challenge to continue this work by giving substance to the idea and vision of integration to which he and his contemporaries devoted virtually their lives.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in 1992, here in Port-of-Spain, I accepted the mantle of Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community and pledged to play my part in this process. Today, seven years later, I have returned confident that I made the right decision then, but aware now that I hardly knew then, how difficult a development process integration can be.
Fully seized that the world in which the Founding Fathers began their quest to unite the Region has changed markedly, the Leaders of the Community have sought to meet this challenge by fashioning the integration process, in such a way as to ensure that the Region secures a viable and respected place in the dynamic and ever changing global environment. But I can assure you the process has not been an easy one. The internal and external pressures which serve to slow or even derail the progress of the integration process, are formidable indeed.
Time will not permit me to retrace the specific steps that have been taken and remain to be taken, to secure the achievement of arrangements such as the Single Market and Economy or to establish the Caribbean Court of Justice. Critical as these structures are to the process – and there is no denying this – it is however the intimate involvement of the people of the Region in pursuit of Caribbean Integration which is more likely to see the ultimate goal achieved. It is imperative therefore, that whatever structure may be designed, the people who will inhabit it and give it life must be in from on the ground floor up, and be fully seized of the requirements and the results of each step in the process of constructing the integration edifice.
You would no doubt recall the experience of the 1930s, where the people of the Region, led by men such as the late VC Bird whom we today mourn, effectively organised themselves and rallied around the movement for improving their living and working conditions throughout the Region. Again in the 1940s and 50s, that same energy and spirit served to secure adult suffrage, and in the Sixties and Seventies to attain political independence. That is the energy and spirit which must be harnessed to propel the process of integration forward. The people must be the mortar that hold the bricks of the structure together.
This involvement, however, requires an unprecedented spread of information and depth of consultation among all sections of the population of all Member States. A critical component of this crusade will have to be the media which cannot distance itself from this vital task. The future steps in the process will call for more effective participation of the media than recent experience has shown to be the case. And while it is not for any one subsector to dictate to any other the role that it must play in this process, it must be clear to all that each has a role to play and that each role is vital to the success of this venture. Few roles, however, are as important as the media to the success of this process.
Fortunately at this juncture in our history, the tools of information technology that are at our disposal provide unprecedented scope for informing our peoples, for uniting our villages, our towns, and our cities, across the Region in such a way that it will become evident to all that what affects one, affects all.
We are therefore faced with a situation of an unprecedented demand with unprecedented means to satisfy it. Those in the Region who now control that technology therefore have a great and historical responsibility.
This task of bringing the people in from “the ground floor up” does not however rest only in the media. It also involves the method of functioning of the Community’s own Organs and Institutions. That process has already begun as can be seen from the national consultations which have been a fundamental aspect of the approach to the development of the Protocols Amending the Treaty of Chaguaramas in order to establish the Single Market and Economy. There has also been a fruitful and exciting interaction between the Heads of Government and representatives of Generation Next at Saramacca in Suriname last March and at this 20th Meeting there will again be the opportunity for the social partners to exchange views with the Heads of Government on issues which, business, labour and non-governmental organisations consider to be their priorities.
More, however, needs to be done. Other Community Organs and mechanisms – be they in pursuit of the internal or external relations of the Community – need to give a much higher priority to the process of consulting with the wider population. Yesterday’s Cricket Match against the University at St. Augustine, like last year’s against the University at Gros Islet, Saint Lucia, shows that this process can be highly enjoyable, (especially when the Heads of Government win the Match.)
There are some who may argue that these are mere drops in the ocean and indeed, they may be. But they are never mere window dressing! It is in these interactions that the seeds for wider involvement are sown and provide the basis for a mechanism that could be further explored and enhanced as we build together this structure of Regional integration.
The agenda for this Meeting, in reflecting the concerns of our Heads of Government for the direction in which the movement is heading, will seek to discuss in dear Tobago, ideas for both ensuring the greater involvement of the people as we seek to bring closure of this century and to launch the next.
In this process, a vital dimension must be how we involve, challenge and excite the Youth to lead this process, as their parents were involved, challenged and excited to march in the rain to Chaguaramas this time however, to highlight the need for Caribbean Unity.
In concluding, let me observe that there is clearly a view among some in the Region that the path of regional integration is optional for their development, but we must not delude ourselves and others, or fall prey to myopia. The small countries which make up the Caribbean Region must either swim together or drown separately in the turbulent waters of the international environment.
Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, when the book on Regional Integration is written we must, let this chapter that is now a “work in progress,” show that the influence of the prologue and the previous chapter written by the late VC Bird and the other Founding Fathers, and nurtured by the midwifery of the late William Gilbert Demas, provide the inspiration and foundation for the contribution of this generation to the process of ‘ever closer union’ of the countries and peoples of the Region. This new chapter must rest on the spirit and energy of the wider population, so that it can truly be said, to paraphrase the poet: All were involved and all were consumed with the spirit of Caribbean regional integration. This is the only way we can with assurance enter the Twenty-first Century.
