Salutations.
Let me begin by first extending, on behalf of the Government and people of the Commonwealth of Dominica, a happy and prosperous 2001 to all my colleague Ministers, the Secretary-General, officials, and staff of the CARICOM Secretariat. It is our hope that the year 2001 will be for you and for all of us in CARICOM, a year of greater accomplishments and the fulfilment of hopes and dreams.
That last year had to end so tragically for one of our sister islands is saddening and very disheartening. I refer, of course, to the inhuman attack in a place of worship of all places! In that regard I wish, on behalf of all of us, to extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the Government and people of Saint Lucia for the loss of life and the pain and suffering being experienced by the nation at this point in time. These heinous acts on innocent and decent citizens must be condemned.
The year 2001, for those who wish to be more accurate in their mathematical counting, marks the true beginning of this new millennium. This would make this 10th Meeting of COTED the first of the new millennium, taking place most fittingly at the beginning of the year. Let us take this opportunity to set some new goals and to reaffirm some old ones. Let us ensure that the mistakes, which we may have made in the last year are not repeated this year.
When we look back at the year 2000 we do have much to be thankful for. That year started off with much uncertainty and apprehension. The worst of predictions had computers and networks crashing, planes falling from the skies and economic chaos generally resulting. These predictions have however been proven wrong. We in the Region were spared fortunately, what was predicted to have been a very active and destructive hurricane season.
The year 2000 however, also saw the continuation of some of our biggest woes. The banana dispute at the WTO seemed to be a never-ending story and many of our farmers have continued to lose hope and are opting to leave what is left of the industry.
We saw too what may be the true colours of our so-called neighbours to the north when the one sector – the offshore financial sector – in which we may just have a competitive advantage in the world economy came under ruthless attack.
In the Commonwealth of Dominica, an entire nation mourned the untimely death of our newly-elected and beloved Prime Minister, the late Hon. Roosevelt Douglas. His life was cut short just when he appeared to be on the brink of making what would have been among his biggest contributions to the nation, the region and possibly even the world viz setting the stage for “a long-overdue departure from the norm” these past twenty-two years of independence.
Nevertheless, we have continued to survive and will continue to survive. Our greatest asset being our resilience in the face of obstacles for the most part not of our own making!
As I look at the agenda I see that we have some very important issues for discussion, most important of which I believe, is the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
And the truth is that in retrospect, many of us will have come to realise that the targets we set ourselves last year with regards to the CSME (and particularly Protocol II) might have been more than we could have accomplished. While not taking anything from the importance of the CSME and the need to proceed with the implementation of Protocol II as fast as we can, we need to appreciate the voluminous nature of the work that is in fact essential to the process and the time that will be necessary.
We are on the other hand aware that we are equally faced with external time constraints. We need for example to consolidate our positions for the GATTS and FTAA negotiations. We also need to be in a position to obtain the waiver under Article 5 of the GATTS Agreement as a regional integration movement.
This is the information age and we need, clearly, to position the CARICOM region as a major player on the world stage. Consequently, the report from the working group on intellectual property rights and the report on activities relating to regulation of e-commerce, to mention but two, should assist us in our initiatives in the critical area of development in the services sector.
In the agricultural sector we should look forward to the proposal for the establishment of the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism. We have a resource in our waters, which I believe we are not tapping to its fullest potential.
The agenda item on external economic and trade relation is particularly long but significant. We have a number of proposals from the RNM in regards to the WTO negotiations on services and agriculture, the Cotonou Agreement and the FTAA. It is particularly important that, as a region, our voice is heard at these arenas. We can no longer allow ourselves to get to the point where we sign agreements which we did not help to create.
In closing and on behalf of the COTED, I wish to acknowledge the contribution made by the Hon. Ralph Fonseca as Chairman of the 9th COTED. I also wish to accept, with thanks, the opportunity to Chair this August body and pledge my best effort in the discharging of my responsibilities.
Of course, that “best effort” will certainly depend to some extent – to a large extent perhaps – on the cooperation and support of Ministerial colleagues here for COTED TEN! In that regard, under the existing chairmanship of Dr. Marcelino Avila, Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Belize, I commend the preliminary work done by our officials over the last three days.
I thank you.
