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Your Excellency Fraser William Wheeler and Mrs. Wheeler
Members of Staff of the Secretariat and of the British High Commission Representatives of the Media Good day and warm welcome to you all! Today, we have the good fortune to witness the accreditation of the first Plenipotentiary Representative of the United Kingdom to the Caribbean Community. It is truly an historic occasion. By this accreditation, we will be establishing a new threshold in the enduring and historical diplomatic relations between the Caribbean Community and the United Kingdom. Excellency, with the exception of two of our sister states of Haiti and Suriname, the history of each Member State and Associate Member of the Caribbean Community is inextricably intertwined with that of the United Kingdom. From language to socio-political systems, to our abiding affinity to cricket, the fabric of these societies has been rooted in and influenced by a common colonial history involving your country from which there has been significant mutual benefit. But today, even as we acknowledge history, we must focus on and analyse the present, to forge and consolidate a brighter future. We renew and recast our old relationship to make way for an ever more efficient and meaningful future partnership. Excellency, the frameworks in which the United Kingdom and CARICOM now dialogue and co-operate are many and varied. Some are serving us well, others need to be strengthened and yet others need to be established in order to ensure that the strong bond between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean is not weakened in any way. I speak for example, of the UK Caribbean Forum – the first meeting of which was held way back in 1998 and the Sixth and most recent of which was successfully held just last year in London; of the Commonwealth whose Heads of Government are due to meet in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago in November of this year; of the ever evolving EU-ACP and EU-CARIFORUM relationships and of course; of the many strong bilateral relations. Concretely, the Caribbean has over the years been the recipient of significant development support from the United Kingdom in the form of financial and technical assistance – specifically but not only in the priority areas of education and Security. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is a longstanding Regional development partner. I understand that it is in the process of finalising a new regional strategy for the Caribbean. We look forward to a relevant and substantial programme of cooperation. In that spirit, it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the announcement made by the UK delegate at the signing ceremony of the European Union-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement held in Barbados on 15 October 2008, of the United Kingdom’s pledge of 10 million pounds towards the CARICOM Development Fund (CDF), a critical development mechanism of the Regional Integration Movement, which is designed to support disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors within the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). This offer was further complemented by a mirror offer of another 10 million pounds to create a Challenge Fund in support of Caribbean entrepreneurship and innovation. High Commissioner, the Region is deeply appreciative to the United Kingdom for these contributions. Notwithstanding the above however, and in a world confronted by increasingly varied and intense challenges, the CARICOM-UK partnership is now called upon to be even more dynamic than it was in the past. The arguments for more and deeper dialogue and co-operation between CARICOM and the United Kingdom, rest as much on continued positive commonalities as on mutual exposure to common threats. They underscore the need for enhanced relations. Positive commonalities apart and there are many, the threats too are serious – poverty; widening economic gaps within and between developing and developed countries; climate change and attendant negative phenomena – all of this underscored by a global economic and financial crisis which exacerbates the aforementioned challenges. It is noteworthy, High Commissioner that your Prime Minister and Government, are championing two challenges of particular importance to this Region. These are climate change and reform of the international financial institutions. Both matters were discussed at length during the Sixth UK-Caribbean Forum in July last year. Excellency, if the findings of the Stern Report on the economic impact of climate change have raised concerns in the United Kingdom, you can appreciate the extent to which living with the realities reflected in that Report, has alarmed the small island and low lying coastal countries of CARICOM. Climate Change for us, is not a future fear, but a current yearly incremental crisis – an attack on our development – a real security threat. It is a threat, not of the Region’s making but certainly one for which the Region is surely paying. Also, it is one we cannot adequately confront alone. There is also the fact Excellency, that there are various linkages between climate change and Caribbean development. For example, there is a direct link between the decisions of nations like the UK in regard to this phenomenon and the Region’s mainstay industry, tourism. The decision of Nations like the UK, to impose incremental taxes on airline tickets for long haul destinations, including to the Caribbean, to offset the costs of adapting to climate change caused in significant degree by carbon emissions by those countries, means that countries like those in the Caribbean, like Peter, are paying not just for Paul but for all! Excellency, you will no doubt appreciate our Community’s genuine concern over the implications of such charges for our tourism and ultimately for our employment and development. That having been said, the Community fully recognises and appreciates the leadership role being played by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the wake of the current global crisis and echoes his call for the reform of the International Financial Institutions or IFIs. In that regard we would urge that the needs of the most vulnerable of their clientele – the small, vulnerable, and highly indebted economies of the Caribbean be addressed. Among these are several CARICOM Member States which have been graduated thereby deemed ineligible for concessionary financing to support their development needs. We expect our oldest friends like the United Kingdom – to support us in all relevant fora as we strive to bring home to the international community the injustice inherent in such policies. In the area of security, CARICOM-UK co-operation has been strong and for this, I wish on behalf of the Community to thank the United Kingdom for its support. That co-operation has already yielded significant results, most memorably in relation to the arrangements for the successful 2007 Cricket World Cup (CWC) which the Caribbean was proud to host. Within the context of a new Community security governance architecture, which reinforces the decision to make Security the new fourth pillar of integration, we are building upon the successes of the CWC and are hopeful that discussions on future cooperation on security between CARICOM and the United Kingdom will yield positive results. Excellency our partnership has been truly mutual. Not only have we received many benefits from our relationship with the United Kingdom but the partnership seen a not insignificant part of the human resources of our Region being expended to the benefit of the United Kingdom. Caribbean trained nurses, teachers and other professionals are contributing in no small measure to the United Kingdom’s society as people of Caribbean origin serve and contribute meaningfully to the political, economic and commercial life of your country. As regard Your Excellency, your distinguished diplomatic career has afforded you a wide and global perspective of international affairs and your experience in the Region and interaction with us to date, as the High Commissioner of the United Kingdom to Guyana, has reassured us of your commitment to and genuine interest in our Region. You know us and we know you, and that is part of the essence of the friendships between people and nations. We are secure in the knowledge that the CARICOM-UK partnership has been entrusted to most able hands. Before I close, Excellency, allow me on behalf of the Community to congratulate the Government of the United Kingdom on its successful bid to host the 2012 Olympics in London. We wish you every success for its smooth unfolding even as of course we look forward to our Caribbean athletes impressing all and inspiring us once more with their triumphs! Unfortunately Excellency, we are not able to express similar sentiments in relation to your team of cricketers which arrived on our shores on Wednesday. We do hope however, that they enjoy their stay, whatever the results of the encounters. Excellency, whatever the results, we look forward to building upon our already positive relationship with you and through you with the United Kingdom. THANK YOU! |
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