Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, Deputy Secretary General, CARICOM Secretariat
Other Members of the Head Table
Fellow Ministers responsible for National Security throughout the Community
Distinguished Delegates
Members of the Press
Ladies and Gentlemen
A pleasant good morning to you
Allow me to first thank the Government of Guyana for its graciousness in being excellent host to this the Seventh Meeting of the CARICOM Council for National Security and Law Enforcement. I am certain that I speak for all present, since we are the beneficiaries of the exceptional service and organization that has been displayed in the coordination for this Meeting.
I am indeed gratified to meet once more with my colleagues from throughout the Region to further advance the Regional Security Agenda. I must say that this year so far has allowed us ample opportunities to strengthen the relationship that began in 2006 when the Management Framework for Crime and Security was first established.
In April 2008, following upon the Fifth Meeting of the CONSLE, Heads of Government of CARICOM held its Thirteenth Special Meeting in Port-of-Spain. This Meeting, as we would recall, focused on crime and security, the thrust being to ‘fully ventilate the crime and security issues facing the Region and to agree on a Strategy and Plan of Action to stem the rising tide of violent criminality’.
CONSLE therefore emerged from that Meeting with a mandate to deliver on a range of issues that included;
• Maritime and airspace cooperation and the sharing of assets
• Intelligence and information- sharing
• Illegal Firearms
• Drug Trafficking
• Murder
• Crime Prevention
• Gang and Youth-Related Violence
• Kidnapping; and
• Deportees
Since then, CONSLE has met in June in St. Kitts and Ministers from the Region have participated in a number of hemispheric Meetings that has offered us the opportunity to continually make reference to the work program defined by Heads in the April Special Meeting.
Caribbean States participated in the Second Regional Summit on Drugs, Security and Cooperation that was held in Cartagena Colombia from July 30 to August 01; out of which came a Plan of Action to address the Drug Problem in the Region. This Plan focused on Drug Supply Reduction, Drug Demand Reduction, Related Crimes and Co-operation. Clearly there are synergies that exist between this Action Plan and our own work program as it relates to the issue of drug trafficking in the Region.
There were two other hemispheric meetings in which most of us participated and where once again we met with many of my colleagues throughout CARICOM. I refer here to the Eighth Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas, held in Banff, Canada from 02-06 September; and the First Meeting of Ministers responsible for Public Security in the Americas, held in Mexico City, Mexico from 07-08 October.
These Meetings offered us as CARICOM colleagues, opportunities to adopt a shared position on the issues raised. They afforded us additional opportunities to meet in caucus and to speak with one voice on issues that bore relevance to what I would term the Regional Plan of Action for addressing crime and security.
And here we meet again, in Guyana, the land of many waters with an agenda that seeks primarily to:
• update on the status of implementation of projects;
• enhance cooperation in providing security for the Summit of the Americas; and
• further strengthen political engagement on the security issues that were defined earlier by our Heads.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my hope that at the end of this Meeting, we would have not only clearly defined the steps that we have made thus far in advancing the Regional Security Agenda; but more than that, would be assured of the next steps required in order to ensure effective implementation of the Regional Action Plan, in the context of commitments made at CARICOM and other security fora.
In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge the work that was done by the Security Policy Advisory Committee (SEPAC), supported by the CARICOM Secretariat and IMPACS, over the past two days in preparation for this meeting of the Council; and to personally and publicly compliment and thank all Ministers who took the time from their busy schedules to be here today. I assure you that the demands made on us by our Heads will be met.
I thank you, and may God bless us all and bless our Region.
