The involvement of the people of the Region in taking the integration process through the next stage assumed major focus among the Region’s Leaders as they sought to set the tone of the 21st Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) which opened in Canouan Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Sunday 2 July, 2000.
In what was described by CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington as the “determining issue” of the packed agenda for the four-day Region’s historic event, he contended that “…the degree and depth of cooperation that this next stage of the integration process demands of the entire Caribbean society, as well as its timely and effective achievement, calls for a more active and comprehensive involvement of the people of the Region.”
The opening deliberations put into perspective the full slate of regional issues that must be dealt with by the Leaders during the four-day Meeting, among which is the HIV/AIDS pandemic which St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. Denzil Douglas said has cast a shadow over the Region. Dr. Douglas stated that “our immediate priority must be to alleviate the suffering of those already infected”, while not downplaying the urgent need to continue to educate our people about the problem.
The Incoming Chairman of the Conference, Sir James Mitchell, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, in making his contribution to the opening session, expressed his wish for “them (the people) to focus on the way we respond to the wars we have to fight, emanating from beyond our shores, be they about bananas, sugar, the WTO, Lom, FTAA or the now so-called harmful tax competition in our offshore sector”.
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell joined his colleagues in signaling his anticipation of the proposed Conference early in 2001 with representatives of Civil Society, including Labour, Youth, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), private sector and others, to discuss the ‘Way Forward’ “in terms of participation, governance and other aspects of developments within the Community”.
Mr. Carrington who chaired the opening ceremony advocated a comprehensive programme of public consultations, nationally and regionally, to bring all sectors of Civil Society fully into the process.
“My own view is that integration will go forward as fast as CARICOM constituent members and their people will allow it to,” said Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo, adding that it is ” the time to forge broad partnership among our people, the media and the various interest groups.”
Prime Minister Douglas has pledged his country’s readiness in support of regional efforts to further explore ways of subsidising the cost of drugs for the Region’s HIV/AIDS patients in response to regional initiatives to stem the threatening circumstances to the health of Caribbean citizens.
The Leaders have been engaged in intense discussions hammering out new moves to deal with the escalating crisis of HIV/AIDS across the region as well working on fast-tracking the implementation of the Nine Protocols amending the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which will pave the way for the new economic integration process for the Region, and the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
Supervision of the Treaty of Chaguaramas by way of Protocols has been completed, and the Heads now have to pave the way for the legal framework to be put in place for the operation of the gradual implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Following up on the recently assigned portfolios to the individual Heads of Government under the new quasi-cabinet structure, the Leaders are expected to determine the operations of this new mechanism. Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, in his outgoing report to the Conference, congratulated his colleagues on their handling of the portfolios, and he observed that the Region has already begun to benefit from this very important innovation.
