I am honoured to welcome you to Antigua and Barbuda and indeed to this final conference of the Students Engaging the CSME through Field Promotion project. Antigua and Barbuda is delighted to have been chosen to be part of this activity on two occasions. To the students from Grenada who journeyed to Antigua in 2009 as part of the earlier phase of this project, I extend a very warm welcome back. To those of you who are visiting for the first time, I trust that the experience will be as rewarding and fruitful as it was for the students from Antigua and Barbuda, who visited Belize during the period 13-19 September, 2009.
This activity is being held only two weeks short of the 5th Anniversary of the start of CSME Implementation. On 30th June, 2006, 12 countries of the Caribbean Community declared that they were in a state of readiness to operate the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and made the commitment to proceed to the Single Economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, critical to successful implementation and effectiveness of the CSME is the education of the various publics and their understanding and buy-in to the relevance, the scope, the benefits and the ownership of the CSME.
The objectives of this project: Students Engaging the CSME through Filed Promotion, and similar projects, continue to be to educate the region about the CSME to win their support for regional integration and to demonstrate how to use the law, institutions and economic conditions to seek employment and to develop business enterprises.
Even with the strides being made at the national and regional levels, the awareness studies and assessments of the Public Education efforts are still calling for increased activities. This is a herculean task which has some limited support through collaborations, since even at our national level there are dwindling resources and competing priorities. Many Community institutions are challenged with insufficient financial and technical resources and the present economic environment compounds the challenges.
However, as the CSME moves to the stage of “how to” it is critical that the next generation understand their reality on cross border operations and appreciate the facts about new opportunities. After all, without investment in the youth of the region, there can be no long term strategy for the CSME.
This is why a project of this nature that sought to engage the next generation in identifying career opportunities in the field with regard to wage employment, self employment and starting a business within the CSME was such a success.
As you will recall, the engagements involved investigation with the Ministries responsible for Labour, Commerce, local stock exchange, a company within the services industry, a large financial institution, the Minister responsible for issuing CARICOM Skilled Certificates, Immigration, a Private Sector Company and a cultural element.
Over 500,000 Euros was spent to initiate strengthening Community relationships and to provide practical training to two hundred and eighty three (283) students from twelve CARICOM Member States participating in the CSME.
The basic strategy was to ensure that students from one country would experience the CSME in a practical manner in another Member State. Many of the students who participated in the programme were able to identify potential opportunities for employment, creation of businesses and some have signalled their interest in remaining in the Region.
These, coupled with the ongoing efforts to engage the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors, who are now excellent spokespersons for engaging peers and colleagues in a “youth friendly” manner, should be a great start to creatively engaging our youth in a long term strategy for the region.
Even though it is said that the CSME is still in the implementation phase, we are seeing real movements in the region.
The CSME must be a Lived Experience and Create Benefits for the peoples of the Community and people must be able to experience the CSME and realize the benefits, so we remain committed to the development of youths.
We extend our gratitude to the European Union and Delegation of the European Commission to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean for the continued support and assistance in ensuring the successful completion of this project, the Focal Points in each Member State, the various Ministries, Private Sector entities that offered their time and information, the CARICOM Secretariat for undertaking such an ambitious project and to the youth, for remaining committed to the region.
In conclusion, I want to wish you all a very successful two-day activity. I trust that you will find a warm and welcoming environment here in Antigua and Barbuda and that the positive results of this entire project which has been conducted over the past 3 years will redound in lasting benefits to the Region.
I thank you!
