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OPENING REMARKS BY EDWIN W. CARRINGTON, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY AT THE TWELFTH MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF MINISTERS, 31 MAY 2003, GEORGETOWN, GUYANA

Honourable Ministers
Other Heads of Delegation
Distinguished Delegates
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is my pleasure this morning, as Secretary-General, to welcome you to the Twelfth Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, the second highest decision-making body in the Caribbean Community.

Today’s session is statutorily required in order to complete the arrangements, including the agenda, for the upcoming Twenty-Fourth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, which will be held in Jamaica from 2-5 July, preceded by a Retreat.

Although this is not the only function of this Organ of the Community, it is a very critical one, as it is you are gathered here who would most influence what the Heads of Government will have before them at their upcoming session. This decision will be guided by recommendations from the various Ministerial Councils that have met in the months since the Inter-Sessional meeting of the Conference in February. This Council will also be guided by a number of issues which the Conference of Heads of Government indicated that it wished to be brought before it. Ultimately, of course, the decision on what is considered by the Heads of Government lies with the Conference itself.

I say all this to emphasise that this Community has an operational structure that it is following to ensure that issues are thoroughly ventilated before decisions are taken at the highest level. The current structure has been in place for the last five years having evolved from other structures during the life of our Community, which, this year, is celebrating its 30th Anniversary.

After a generation, we have had enough experience to draw upon in assessing the difficulties, the efficiency and effectiveness of our systems of operation – indeed our structures of governance. It is relevant and timely therefore that the Heads of Government have been engaged in such an assessment with a view to improving what now exists. This exercise received impetus from the Conference held in Port-of-Spain prior to the Inter-Sessional and even before that, the Forward Together Encounter with Civil Society staged here in Georgetown, last July. In this ongoing task of taking a hard look at ourselves, which now preoccupies us is a clear indication of a maturity worthy of its generation of existence.

In this process no structure is immune from this scrutiny and indeed the immediate past Chairman of the Conference, His Excellency the President of Guyana, laid before his colleague Heads a case for reviewing the functions and operations of all the institutions that serve the Community. Whether it is the Secretariat, the University, the CDB, the RNM, the questions have to be rightfully asked: are we doing what’s best for the Community? Are we doing it in the best possible way? In other words are we doing what truly serves the interests of the people of the Community?

In the answer to these questions of governance and structure lies a large part of the future course of our beloved Caribbean Community. It is with expectation therefore that I look forward to the deliberations on this matter in Jamaica. For whatever review or deliberation takes place, the outcome must be geared towards preparing this region for what lies ahead, for placing it in the global reality and ensuring that the people of the Caribbean Community have the opportunity to hold their own in the new unfolding global Community, and to enjoy a decent standard of living.

These are matters that concern us all; that involve us all. These are thoughts that should guide us as we prepare the ground for the Twenty-Fourth Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government and particularly as we reflect and rededicate ourselves to the cause of integration even as we proudly celebrate our Thirtieth Anniversary.

It is with these thoughts that I welcome you here this morning, and thank you for giving me your attention.

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