Mr. Master of Ceremonies;
Secretary;
Ambassador Irwin La Rocque;
Father Jerry Bernier;
Ms Marva Lee, Executive Secretary;
Delegates from
various Member countries;
Distinguished Ladies and
Gentlemen.
I am pleased to have this opportunity to welcome
you, on behalf of the Caribbean Organization of Tax
Administrators (COTA), to this our 19th General Assembly
and Technical Conference. It is a great pleasure to be here in Saint Lucia.
Permanent Secretary, we wish to convey to you,
our profound gratitude for agreeing to host this
Conference.
By tradition, COTA seeks to organise its
Conferences in a different country each two-year
period when a conference is held. Recognising that there are constraints on
Governments budget in many countries, we are
particularly pleased that Saint Lucia has consented
to these arrangements.
Saint Lucia has a history of active involvement
in the affairs of COTA, and this is extremely
commendable. It is only through such active
participation of our Member countries, and their
efforts in supporting the works of COTA, that our
goals and objectives could be attained.
There is no doubt in our minds that our host has
prepared a very exciting programme for us over the
next few days. We look forward to both the technical
and social programmes. I am certain that we will all
leave Saint Lucia, being much more knowledgeable
about the country and its people. In this regard, I
take this opportunity to convey warm greetings from
the Government and people of the Commonwealth of The
Bahamas.
We have an interesting agenda ahead of us. During
this week we will be focused on the objective of the
Conference, which is to present, and deliberate on
innovations in Taxation that are relevant to small
countries of the Caribbean, reviewing fiscal policy
reforms in the Region, and reflecting on how,
improving their effectiveness, could contribute to
enhancing our various administration systems.
As you are aware, our theme is: “Options for
Building Stronger Economies through Innovative Tax
Policies and Administration”.
Our agenda is quite extensive, and allows for a
wide and varied contribution of ideas, and
experiences from a cross section of economies. By
doing this, we hope to share in the rich wealth of
experiences of our various countries.
We are pleased to have for the first time,
Delegates from Bermuda, The Netherlands Antilles
The countries of the Caribbean are not in
isolation with regards to global affairs, and the
efforts of all Governments, in seeking to position
themselves so as to ensure best practices in
providing a stable approach in addressing fiscal
demands in each of our countries.
We look forward to the active participation of
all Delegates and anticipate rewarding results from
our deliberations.
Organising any function such as this involves a
number of persons. Although there is always the fear
of leaving someone out, we must, nevertheless thank
our Master of Ceremonies Mr. Jerry George; Father
Jerry Bernier; Ambassador La Rocque, for taking time
to be with us, Mr. Brian Dawe and Mr. Peter Mullins,
from CARTAC; Ms. Severene Baranger, Representative
from International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation;
the St. Lucia Royal Police Band; of course Mr. James
Charles, and his support team, together with the
Secretariat Staff for all the efforts placed in
making these ceremonies a success.
We also take this opportunity to wish the Prime
Minister a speedy recovery.
To you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for your presence
here, and your indulgence, I thank you.
Printer Friendly
