Senator the Hon. Dr. John Watts, Deputy to the Governor-General of Grenada;
Dr. the Hon. Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada;
Hon. Sir Curtis Strachan, Speaker of the Assembly, and the House of Representatives of Grenada;
Hon Ralph Maraj, Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, representing the
Hon. Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and Chairman of the Conference of the Caribbean Community;
Hon. Ministers of Government;
Honourable Representatives of the Assembly;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Members of the Media;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, it gives me great pleasure to be here in St. George’s Grenada, for the Second Sitting of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians. I am indeed honoured to be afforded the opportunity to address you. May I first of all extend the Community’s heartfelt thanks to the Government of Grenada – and in particular the Honourable Prime Minister – and Parliament of Grenada, particularly the Honourable Speaker, for being ready and willing to host the Sitting of this august assembly. Their commitment to the democratic process augurs well for the continued strengthening and deepening of the regional integration movement.
This process, as embodied in this institution, saw its beginnings, as you have been told, here in Grenada at this very hotel in Grand Anse, at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, in July 1989. It was here that an agreement was forged that provided for the establishment of the institution of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians, thanks to the initiative of the then Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. Erskine Sandiford, who in 1987 at the Eight Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Saint Lucia, first proposed the creation of this vital regional institution.
The inaugural Sitting of the Assembly took place in Bridgetown, Barbados, nine years later, in May 1996. Three years thereafter, we are meeting here for the Second Sitting to impart a much needed boost to this institution and indeed, to make sure its future development. The fact that concerns were raised recently in the press about the functioning of the Assembly, underscores the Region’s interest in this institution and attests to the value the Region places in democratic governance. It is with this in mind, I suggest that we work to ensure that this Assembly becomes a more vibrant part of the institutional framework of the Caribbean Community.
This will be in keeping with the Region’s well-earned international recognition as a leader in the sphere of good governance and democracy. Recent evidence of this leadership role can be gleaned from the fact that, even as we gather here today, the ACP-EU Joint Assembly is sitting in our sister CARICOM State of The Bahamas, and it was a mere couple of weeks ago that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association sat at the birthplace of the Community in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago. One can fairly say it’s the season of democracy in the Region.
In this general regard, we will do well to remember that among the many objectives of the Assembly, as identified by the previous speaker, are to promote greater understanding among Member States for the purpose of realising and safe guarding the ideals and principles of democratic governance in the Community and facilitating the economic and social advancement of their peoples; and to encourage the adoption by the governments of Member States of the Community of a common policy on economic, social, cultural, scientific and legal matters deliberated upon by the Assembly.
It is important to note, Ladies and Gentlemen, that to achieve these objectives, the Assembly has been endowed with the following functions and powers;
– to make recommendations to the Conference, the Council, institutions, associate institutions and the Secretariat;
-to request from the above-mentioned bodies information and reports for discussion;
-discuss and make recommendations on any matter within the scope of the objectives of the Community and any matter referred to it by the Conference, the Council or any institution or Associate Institution; and
-to adopt resolutions on any issue or matter arising under the Treaty.
This institution is a unique one among all the institutions of the Community. It is the only institution of the Community which provides for the representation of opposition as well as of government parliamentarians. Perhaps the day is not far off when institutional arrangements would also be designed to incorporate formally the views of opposition leaders on critical regional issues. Indeed, the framework of regional democratic structures, including this Assembly – perhaps headed by this Assembly – may need at this turn of the century to undergo a process of review and, if necessary, reconstruction to ensure not only their more efficient functioning, but also that all elements of the wider civil society have a direct voice in the process of regional economic, social and political development.
The Order Paper before this Meeting reflects many of the pressing issues facing the Community as it heads towards the 21st Century. The Conference of Heads of Government, the Supreme Authority of the Community, will itself be meeting at the birthplace of the Community in Trinidad and Tobago in another two weeks to grapple with some of these issues, in particular, the effectiveness of our institution to spearhead the Community’s progress into the 21th Century. This Assembly may care to provide the Heads of Government with the benefit of its own deliberations on some of these issues. We are certain to find that in its deliberations, the Assembly will focus on many of these issues, such as :
-progress towards the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ);
-progress towards the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy;
-The Caribbean in the 21st Century;
-Human Resource Development in the Region;
-Crime in the Caribbean;
-The Community’s External Relations including the series of current negotiations, relating to the post-Lome IV arrangements, the next round of negotiations in the World Trade Organisation, and the Free Trade Area of the Americas, now being spearheaded by the Regional Negotiating Machinery;
-The Banana dispute; and indeed,
-The Role of Cricket in Regional Development.
You will find in all of these issues, matters of substance to the Community. As Secretary-General, I have brought with me a team of technocrats to assist you in the process of your deliberations.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Prime Minister, Hon. Parliamentarians, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have unbounded faith in the Caribbean persona to, as it were, play the right stroke at the right time even if only in the nick of time. Although this institution has been off to a slow start, I have no less confidence in its ability to play that stroke on behalf of the full democratic development of the Regional Integration Movement.
I am therefore confident that your deliberations here today and tomorrow will provide the Region with the foundation for winning innings for the Caribbean Community to march confidently into the next century.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
