(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this 29th Meeting of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Council of Ministers.
I extend a particularly warm welcome to the Ministers of Jamaica and Saint Lucia who are attending their first meeting of this, the second highest Organ of our Community.
This Council is meeting at a time when our Community continues to ask hard questions of itself and the role of all our Organs, Bodies and Institutions, against a background of the demand by our Heads of Government that our actions must make a meaningful impact on the ground. As I have moved throughout the Region and met with various stakeholders, I have heard first-hand the concerns expressed by our Heads, by you, our Ministers and by the citizenry of our Community. There is an urgent call for us to do things differently if we are to deliver what is expected of us.
Today we receive a presentation on proposals for restructuring the Secretariat. I have no doubt that changes will flow from the recommendations of that report and we must all be prepared to welcome those changes. Change will have to be managed; it will not be easy; it will definitely require a new mindset; a new way of doing things.
Let us be clear. The staff members of the Secretariat are hardworking. They plough through long hours and are committed to their tasks. However, are we organised to do what is required? Do we have our priorities right? Are we capable of rendering the service that our Member States and Associate Members require given the resources at our disposal? These are some of the tough questions that must be faced and answered as we go forward.
There must be a clear understanding that the Secretariat can no longer be all things to all persons if we are to be efficient and effective, irrespective of the role identified for us to play. Prioritisation and resources are two words which must go along with results, accountability and value for money in reference to the Secretariat and indeed all the Community’s institutions in going forward. The Secretariat’s organisational review is the first of such reviews which are to be conducted of all Community Institutions.
The review of our integration structure and operations does not end with the Secretariat and the Institutions. The role and functions of this Council are pivotal to the efficient operation of our integration arrangements. It is an issue that this Council has previously sought to address as it grappled with matters related to its functioning with a view to fulfilling its role as envisaged in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas.
Your discussions today will benefit from a review undertaken by the Community Council in 2004 at a Retreat. There is no doubt that many of the recommendations from that 2004 review remain valid and relevant. It is necessary that this Council, a vital cog in the Community wheel, must once again consider its role and functions as we go forward in this current restructuring process.
As the Revised Treaty mandates, it is within this Council that resides the authority to give the strategic direction to pursue the policies enunciated by our Heads of Government. Article 13, from which that mandate derives, also places upon you two essential tasks for the efficient conduct of Community business. The first, of ensuring timely implementation of Community decisions can best be achieved, no doubt, through prioritisation which in turn will influence the other task of mobilising and allocating resources for the implementation.
It is also within this Council that the responsibility resides to function as a preparatory body for meetings of the Conference of Heads of Government and thereby to determine what matters may be laid before it. In other words this Council should be the fulcrum around which the Community swivels. It is within your purview to discuss whether these highly pivotal functions are being adequately discharged. Obviously this review cannot be completed at any one meeting but these discussions are urgent and must form a major part of the introspection which our Community is undertaking.
Today’s meeting will be looking at many other issues including the work programme and budget of the Secretariat which is before the Council for approval. We are fully aware of the fiscal difficulties with which many of our Member States are faced and appreciate the challenges which that situation brings. We have struggled to cope with that reality as our Budget had been frozen from 2008 to 2010 and then further reduced in 2011.
However, while we have been able to maintain a level of service, we have had to undertake cost cutting measures, including not filling posts as they become vacant, some of which are necessary for the efficient management of our institution and the delivery of its work programme. Should we endure any further cuts in real terms without prioritizing mandates and an already over ambitious work program, we will become that much more inefficient, given the resources that are available to us. And there is the matter of the rising arrears which restrict our cash flow and further limit our ability to perform.
This should not be allowed to continue. In this process of change, reform and restructuring, the Secretariat must be equipped to be the change agent that you require.
Mr Chairman, Honourable Ministers, delegates, there is a long day ahead and it is my fervent hope that at its end we would have advanced this process of change.
I thank you.
