(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Sir Edwin, as your successor it is my honour and distinct pleasure to receive your Letters of Credence, accrediting you as Plenipotentiary Representative of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago to the Caribbean Community. This is indeed a rare occasion, where the Community has the opportunity to receive as an accredited diplomatic representative, a distinguished son of the soil who has played such an instrumental role in advancing the regional integration movement and in building the Community. Your appointment is testimony to Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to the continued advancement of our Region, given the selection of an ambassador of such high calibre.
Excellency, in addition to hailing from a country that has made a tremendous contribution to the Community, your extensive and expansive career working with, and in the Caribbean Community, has allowed you to attain a level of enviable familiarity and profound understanding of the issues with which our Member States grapple and the goals towards which our Region strives. It is my full expectation that in your new capacity, you will bring your repository of knowledge and expertise to the table during the deliberations of the Community, so that we may continue to benefit from your breadth of insight and experience.
Sir Edwin, your country, in which the Treaty of Chaguaramas Establishing the Caribbean Community and Common Market was signed, has not shirked its responsibility as a leader in the integration movement. Its commitment has been demonstrated beyond its portfolios for Crime and Security and Energy in the Quasi Cabinet of Heads of Government.
The importance of those two areas to the Community cannot be overstated with Security proving to be a real challenge for the Region. Your country has been instrumental in further developing the regional architecture for Security; and the high cost of energy may very well be addressed in part, by the proposed gas pipe line to neighbouring Member States.
Further, the financing of a significant proportion of the cost of the feasibility study towards the establishment of a sub-regional ferry service, will undoubtedly contribute to addressing another critical area of concern in our Community, namely regional transportation. I wish to express appreciation for such a tangible demonstration of your country’s commitment to the integration movement.
Sir Edwin, the Community is also cognisant of the tireless efforts of Trinidad and Tobago to increase the visibility and the awareness of the Region through the hosting of various hemispheric and international events, and through its leadership role in various fora. We recall that all eyes were on Trinidad and Tobago and by extension, CARICOM in 2009 when your country hosted the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Further, your country will be Host of the Fourth CARICOM-Cuba Summit which takes place in Port-of-Spain, on 8 December.
Most recently, your Prime Minister, the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar, handed over as Chair of the Commonwealth to the Prime Minister of Australia. During her time in charge of that august grouping, she sought to raise awareness of women’s participation in leadership roles whilst advancing the principles and values of the Commonwealth of Nations. One can well remember the historic moment in Perth, Australia, when the Prime Minister observed, that as the first woman Chair-in-Office she was handing over to another woman Chair-in-Office, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in the presence of a woman Head of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty the Queen of England.
Your Prime Minister is also well known for her interest in the welfare of children, not just in Trinidad and Tobago but also in the wider Community. In that regard, I recall her proposal for a Caribbean Children’s Life Fund which was made at the Thirty-First Meeting of Heads of Government in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 2010. Such a Fund would be of immense assistance to those children faced with life threatening medical conditions and whose families do not have the means to provide the necessary care.
Excellency, in closing, I am certain that in your new role, uniquely qualified as you are, by dint of your recent tenure as the longest-serving of my predecessors, the advice offered by you to your Government will serve to strengthen even further the commitment of your country to regionalism.
It is quite fitting therefore, that you are the first Ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago to CARICOM. It was well worth the wait!
Against this background I accept, Sir Edwin, your credentials and formally bid you a hearty welcome back to the Headquarters of the Community in your new capacity.
It goes without saying that we all look forward to continuing to work with you in pursuit of the goals of our Region which you yourself have been so instrumental in building.
