His Excellency the Governor General of St. Kitts and Nevis, Sir Cuthbert Sebastian
Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, and Chairman of the Fifteenth-Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference
Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica and Outgoing Chairman of the Community,
Other Distinguished Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community,
Hon. Ministers
Delegates
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the Fifteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.
In welcoming you, let me immediately pay tribute to the Prime Minister, the government and people of St Kitts and Nevis for their generosity and community spirit, which has allowed them to host not just this meeting of the Heads of Government but a series of others this week, at very short notice. Prime Minister, it is this tangible demonstration of commitment to regional unity by a small country like yours that lifts the spirit of the entire Community.
I would also like to thank the Distinguished Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner, for graciously making the Institution’s conference facilities available to us for the series of regional Meetings this week.
My task this morning is to chair this simple opening ceremony as we embark on this very important meeting of the Community.
In doing so, I must seize this opportunity to pay public tribute to the outgoing Chairman of the Community, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica who, for an extraordinary nine months in the life of the Community, has had the onerous responsibility of guiding our Community through some very choppy waters. As Secretary-General, I am grateful for the wise counsel I received from him during that period.
As I thank the out going chairman for his dedication, so must I thank today’s chairman, the Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas, who at a day’s notice has come to the Community’s assistance to chair the meeting of his colleague Heads of Government – a commitment reflective of that displayed by his government and people, our hosts.
This change in chairmanship has arisen as a result of the workings of the democratic process – a tradition deeply embedded in the culture of this Community. Arising therefrom, I must take the opportunity to extend warm congratulations to the new Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the Hon Baldwin Spencer and his government for their resounding victory at the polls two days ago. We look forward to working closely with them as they take their place in the councils of the Community. That the Honourable Prime Minister will not be with us today is to be expected.
As we welcome the new government, permit me to express our deep appreciation and thanks to the former Prime Minister Mr. Lester Bird, who for so many years was a tireless and huge contributor to the work of the Community.
There has been another change of a different nature and through a different process. I refer to the absence from this meeting of Mr. Jean Bertrand Aristide. His departure has already led the Community to meet in emergency session at the highest level and will no doubt be the source of much discussion over the next two days.
There are other changes at this meeting which we are happy however to acknowledge. It is my pleasure to welcome the new Chief Minister of Turks and Caicos Islands, the Hon. Dr. Michael Misick, who through the wheels of democratic change has replaced the former Chief Minister. We are also happy to welcome the new Premier of Bermuda, Hon. Walter Scott. We look forward to the contributions these new members will make as they have an important role to play in the life of the Community.
In closing these brief remarks, I cannot help but recognize that this meeting is taking place at a time when there are unmistakable signs of stresses and strains in our Community. However, it is not by chance that CARICOM is the longest surviving integration grouping among developing countries. Throughout the last 31 years it has not always been easy but our commitment to the higher ideals of the regional integration movement has always enabled us to overcome those moments of crisis and carried us beyond whatever dark clouds threaten.
Today, even as we face those stresses and strains, we are progressing on numerous fronts: for example, as a Community we have recently signed a free trade agreement with the Central American state of Costa Rica; as a Community we will within a month be launching trade negotiations with the European Union for an Economic Partnership Agreement; as a Community we have recently initiated a process of heightened co-operation with the countries of the African Union and as a Community here at home we are on the verge of taking the historic step of inaugurating the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Now is therefore not the time to waver. We must have, as the words of the national anthem of one our founding Member States says, “boundless faith in our destiny.” It is with this conviction that I now invite one of the true champions of our integration process, the out going Chairman, the Most Hon. P. J. Patterson Prime Minister of Jamaica, to address you.
I thank you.
