Their Excellencies the Most Honourable Sir Patrick Allen Governor General of Jamaica and the Most Honourable Lady Allen
Bruce Golding Prime Minister of Jamaica and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community
Your Excellencies Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Republic of Guyana and Rene Preval President of the Republic of Haiti
Other Distinguished Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community
Your Excellency Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Your Excellency Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States (OAS)
Honourable Ministers High Officials of the Government of Jamaica
The Acting President of the Caribbean Court of Justice
Your Excellencies the Ambassadors Accredited to the Caribbean Community and other Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Heads of Regional Institutions and Representatives of International Organisations
Special Representative of the Heads of Government on Haiti and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable Percival J. Patterson
Distinguished Delegates
Deputy Secretary-General and other Members of Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat
Specially invited guests
Representatives of the Media
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
Today the 4th of July 2010 – on the 37th Anniversary of the signing of
the Treaty of Chaguaramas, establishing the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM), it is my pleasure and honour to welcome you all to this
Opening Ceremony of the Thirty-First Regular Meeting of the Conference
of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.
Some sixty-three years ago, in 1947, political, labour and civil society leaders of the then British West Indian Colonies, gathered together here in Montego Bay to discuss the prospects for closer association among those territories. Today, the heirs to and guardians of that legacy, have returned with others to this virtual cradle of West Indian unity to continue to pursue that self-same objective – closer co-operation and integration of the countries of the Caribbean Region. As we embark on the second decade of the new millennium, we are armed with the experience gained from various efforts in that regard – and there have been many – over the six decades since that historic initial effort.
The signing of the Treaty at Chaguaramas, a small historic sea port in Trinidad and Tobago, on this date 4 July 1973 was in honour of the birth date of that outstanding regionalist, the Jamaican leader Norman Washington Manley.
Today, I welcome and congratulate another Jamaican leader, the Honourable Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica, on his assumption of the office of Chairman of the Caribbean Community at a most critical juncture in the life of the Community.
I look forward, through his leadership, to Jamaica’s continued pivotal role in the further development of our Community. In a similar vein, I must express appreciation to the immediate past Chairman, the Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, the Prime Minister of Dominica, whose stewardship during the previous six months was marked by his remarkable steadfastness in the face of the unprecedented disaster wrought on CARICOM’s newest Member State, Haiti, by the devastating earthquake of 12 January. I thank you, Prime Minister Skerrit, on behalf of the Community and in particular, ob behalf of the people of Haiti. Later in this ceremony, the Community will, through your thoughtful gesture, show its appreciation to all those, who gave medical, military and logistic service unstintingly and sacrificed for the people of Haiti in those early frightful and awful moments following the events of January 12.
Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I have a particular pleasure in extending an especially warm welcome to the newest member of the Conference, the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, who I have been assured is no stranger to Jamaica.
Madame Prime Minister, in congratulating you on your recent victory at the polls, I am sure I speak for your colleague Heads of Government and the people of the Community in general, when I say that we look forward to the fresh perspectives you would be bringing to the integration process, as you join your colleague Heads of Government in giving the process the added impetus it needs. Welcome Honourable Prime Minister!
Even as we extend a special welcome to the Honourable Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, do permit me to express, on behalf of us all, best wishes for a full and speedy recovery of the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson and our fervent hopes for his early return to this august body.
Excellencies, Ministers, Distinguished Delegates, Esteemed Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, the impetus to which I referred earlier, will provide the invigoration that our Community needs, first to confront and then to overcome the formidable challenges which have been a feature of the first decade of this 21st century. The energy crisis, the food crisis, the financial and economic crisis, the crisis resulting from the effects of climate change have all had and continue to have serious adverse impacts on all our countries. Further, on 12 January this year, our newest Member State, Haiti, suffered a most devastating disaster through a catastrophic earthquake which killed hundreds of thousands, rendered more than a million homeless and significantly damaged its physical infrastructure.
In the face of such adversity, our Caribbean Community has however, not allowed the demons of despair to hold full sway. Instead, perhaps due to those six decades of experience and the benefit of 37 years of a formalised common purpose, this Community has moved to combat the effects of these crises, by together working toward solutions for the whole, which would benefit the individual parts.
If any lesson needed to be learnt regarding the imperative of regional inregration, this last decade has reinforced it. It is one in which the most powerful nations in the world meeting in fora such as G8 and the G20, have been seeking to forge a common front to stave off the worst effects of these crises. Who are we to do less? Indeed what we need is more, not less regional unity. We should not underestimate the value of our 37 years as a Community – making it the longest surviving integration movement among developing countries.
Excellencies, Heads of Government, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, the pre-eminent reason for our unity must not be cast in the mould of simply battling adversity, nor in the nostalgia of a shared history, instead, it must be in the collective responsibility and prospects for the future well-being of the people of these small vulnerable nation states, who live cheek by jowl around the Caribbean Sea.
However, this is also no time for absolution by history. The youth of our Caribbean civilisation may have jolted us by their forthright approach at the Youth Summit in Paramaribo, Suriname in January 2010. But it is their livelihood and their lives that are at stake. They want a Caribbean home in which they can roam from room to room without let, or hindrance in seeking the best one in which to lay their heads. They are eager for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy to be fully implemented. They want it to be a lived experience. We have to do our best to make their dreams possible in this, the Region of their birth.
In meeting that challenge, our Community would also be giving itself an opportunity to harness its best talents in its efforts to create space in a world that remains implacably hostile to the interests of small states. It is those talents which reside in our youth that can give us the invigoration and the innovation and creativity necessary to be competitive in the global market place. And it is that drive for competitiveness which would generate the excellence needed to build the kind of Community for which we all yearn.
Excellencies, Honourable Ministers, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, the task is not beyond us. The people of our Community continue to be resilient and resourceful and aided by a vibrant Caribbean diaspora, this Region can only prosper. In many ways we can punch above our weight and we certainly believe that despite our challenges, we can achieve the objectives of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and most, if not all, of the Millennium Development Goals. What is needed is the guidance and leadership that will channel our energies to achieve the optimal result – a viable, prosperous and secure Community for All.
And that is the premier challenge that faces this Thirty-First Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. In that regard, we have the unique pleasure and are deeply honoured and highly fortunate to have with us, to assist us in meeting this challenge and to help the Region to secure its place in the contemporary world, the distinguished Secretary-General of the United Nations His Excellency Ban Ki-moon. Secretary-General, I thank you for honouring your commitment to me of January 12 and for this historic participation by a Secretary-General of the United Nations in the deliberations of the Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.
It is also my pleasure to welcome, once again, to a Meeting of our Heads of Government, the distinguished Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States, His Excellency Jose Miguel Insulza. We look forward to his usual insightful contribution to our efforts in confronting the challenges that face us.
Tomorrow, we also expect to be joined by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Their contributions like those of the President of the World Bank, Mr Robert Zoellick and the President of the Inter-American Development Bank, Mr Luis Alberto Moreno at our Inter-Sessional Meeting in Dominica last March, for all of which we are deeply appreciative as the Community seeks to find its true place in the Contemporary world.
Against that background and given the excellence of the arrangements and the generous hospitality which the Government and People of Jamaica have provided for this meeting, I find no difficulty in believing that challenges will be met.
I thank you!