As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, it gives me very great pleasure to welcome you all, to what can justly be termed, the laying of the foundation stone in the building of the edifice of youth development, by the Community, here in Suriname this week.

It is fitting that this historic week should begin with the emphasis on you, the Youth of the Community, setting the stage for the pivotal meeting of the Honourable Ministers on Thursday and finally that of the Heads of Government on Friday and Saturday. For all these sessions are about you - your dreams, your aspirations, your challenges and your views on how to shape the future of your Region, our Region. And all of this could not have taken place at a more propitious and appropriate time than this year, the International Year of Youth.

I must thank the Government and people of Suriname, and in particular the Head of Government in the CARICOM quasi-cabinet with Lead Responsibility for Youth (Culture and Gender), His Excellency Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan, President of Suriname. President Venetiaan readily agreed to host this week of meetings focussing on the young people of the Region.

Given the level of hospitality and the quality of arrangements put in place for our deliberations, we are assured of an enjoyable and productive week here in Suriname. It is clear that hosting this series of meetings is a task of joy for Suriname. I am not surprised, as I know of the President’s deep and abiding interest in the welfare and development of the young people of his country, a quality he has brought into the wider Community, which he has infused with a determination to do all possible to improve the prospects of our youth.

Don’t let the colour of his hair (or mine for that matter) fool you. He and I are both very much youths at heart! Believe me we are!

Today, I acknowledge warmly and specially, our youth representatives from Haiti. You have been “hard pressed on every side but thankfully not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed.” We share in your suffering for your problem is our problem and our problem is your problem. You are here because of your grim determination and perseverance. Those are qualities we hold dear in the Community. Those are the true values for the development of our Youth. Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to join me in a minute’s silence to those of our youth and others who lost their lives in the January 12 earthquake catastrophe in Haiti.

Your Excellency, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, when the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM mandated the establishment of a Commission on Youth Development in July 2006, in St Kitts and Nevis, the Leaders tasked the Commission with undertaking “a full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); and with making recommendations to improve their well-being and empowerment.”

The Heads of Government did so against a background where young people under the age of 30 comprise 60 per cent of the Community’s population. The young people of today will surely be the main beneficiaries, not only of the CSME, but also of all the integration arrangements, as we seek to create a Community For All. It is vital therefore that you be among the main builders as well.

Our deliberations later this week would not be the first encounter between the Heads of Government and the youth of the Community. In 1999 right here in Suriname at Saramacca, at a retreat session, the youth engaged CARICOM Heads of Government in a discussion on their needs and their role in the Community. That discussion was a direct result of the Youth Explosion held in The Bahamas in 1998 as part of the activities to mark the 25th Anniversary of CARICOM.

In a direct way, that encounter acted as a catalyst for the rejuvenation of the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Corps which had been formed during the 20th Anniversary celebrations in 1993. The Corps has become a virtual institution in its own right within the CARICOM system. The CARICOM Youth Ambassadors have continued to play a vital role in several areas of Community life: especially in health, environment, information, education and communications. Indeed a former member of the Corps, Ms. Yildiz Beighle is the Co-Chair of the Commission on Youth Development.

Youth of the Community, in going forward, there is a real challenge for you. You should not merely be looking for the benefits that may be coming to you but also using your energy, creativity and skill to help in building the Community that you want. This week is about harnessing your ideas and winning the hearts and minds of the policy makers to make those ideas their ideas so that together we can plot a course that would benefit you - an integral part of our Community.

To help in bringing that vision to reality, we have the Report of the Commission. As Secretary-General, I wish to place on record the greatest appreciation for the work of the Commissioners. It is evident from the comprehensive nature and the quality of the Report that their task must certainly have been a true labour of love. Indeed, that Report could very well be one of the key documents in our Community’s 37-year history, for it may turn out to have provided the only sure path through which the CSME may eventually come to fruition.

As we proceed over the next few days, we will be analysing and debating the recommendations of that Report starting with this Forum’s outcome document On Optimising Youth Contribution to Development and Integration and ending with a Declaration from the Heads of Government on the Future of Youth In The Caribbean Community. That process promises to be illuminating, exciting and rewarding and I am honoured to be part of it.

It is my hope that we all keep in focus the themes of the Report as we begin these critical deliberations with an emphasis on an Eye on the Future and on Investing in the YOUTH NOW for Tomorrow’s Community.

It is imperative that we do so if we are to build a strong Community For All.

I thank you.