(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Honourable Secretary-General:
First, allow me to express to you the warm greetings of the President of Chile, H.E. Sebastián Piñera and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile, Alfredo Moreno. It is an honour to be hosted Mr. Secretary-General, here at the headquarters of the Caribbean Community. In Chile you are well known for your long standing commitment with CARICOM and the integration process of the region. Honourable Secretary General:
As you know Chile was among the first countries that recognized the independence of the Caribbean nations and to establish with them official diplomatic relations. Since then Chile has been building a relationship based on a mutual respect and friendship. During the last two decades, subsequently the reestablishment of democracy in Chile, we inaugurated a new chapter in our relations and continued to strengthen our political and economic ties building a rich and common bilateral and multilateral agenda with CARICOM.
This agenda is born from our common values and principles and is based on a full respect for human rights, international law, territorial integrity, promotion of democracy and freedom. At the same time and according to our capabilities, we started to provide technical assistance and cooperation for development in areas where we can provide our experience and that each country has identified their interest such as agriculture, mining, international negotiations, language training and others areas. We are willing to continue and deepen this cooperation for development and share with CARICOM member countries the experience of Chile in these and other fields. Honourable Secretary-General:
At the CELAC Summit held in Santiago, where Chile had the honour of hosting you, our countries had the opportunity to reaffirm the importance of CARICOM for the region as a whole, both in its historic role and also as manifestation of the plurality of our Community. The Declaration of Santiago also stresses the importance of this political mechanism designed to serve as a regional forum to debate our common challenges, devise solutions and define means of collaboration and assistance for the benefit of our people.
In this context, Mr. Secretary-General, you will be pleased to know that in the upcoming days the Director of the International Cooperation Agency of Chile will be visiting several CARICOM member countries in order to assess cooperation projects and programs developed under the Chile-CARICOM 2012-2014 Program. Chile´s commitment to work together with CARICOM countries remains a firm priority for our country. At CELAC delegates from CARICOM members countries, in a special session with President Piñera, that you Mr. Secretary-General co-chaired together with the President of Haiti, Pro Tempore President, kept a friendly and open dialog, and President Piñera reaffirmed the commitment of Chile with the Caribbean region and the interest in holding the Third Meeting of the CARICOM-Chile Joint Commission in 2014. We are convinced that CELAC is called to change our political profile in the international arena and give to the countries and people of Latin America and the Caribbean a new task in order to move forward and materialize political, economic and social integration in the region.
Honourable Secretary-General: Please allow me to reiterate my gratitude in being able to represent the Government and people of Chile before CARICOM and rest assured that you can count on a loyal ally and friend in order to work for the integration process thought our region. Thank you
