The first Zonal Round of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Regional Quiz Competition 2008, opened on Thursday (13 June 2008) at the Anglican Pastoral Centre in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

 

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony, Sir Louis Straker, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade of St Vincent and the Grenadines commended the CARICOM Secretariat for organising the competition and noted that it had provided a platform to bring together young people from across twelve Member States to engage in an exercise that would further increase their knowledge of the CARICOM Regional integration movement.  He said the bringing together of young people was in keeping with the spirit of regional unity.

 

Pointing to the phenomenon of globalisation, Sir Louis stated that despite the fact that Caribbean countries had survived slavery and colonialism, it could not survive the fierce competition in a globalised world if all small nations did not unite.  He made reference to other Third States that had joined forces to compete within the international economy and emphasized that small Caribbean nations would be marginalised if they did not follow suit.

 

Acknowledging the many challenges confronting Caribbean youth, Sir Louis said that despite those challenges, Caribbean youth still had tremendous opportunities and should equip themselves through education – formal and informal -to counter the challenges and seize the opportunities created within the CARICOM Single Market.

 

'Don’t sell yourself short,' the Deputy Prime Minister cautioned the students. He charged the students to prepare themselves to take up the mantle to deepen the integration process by helping to chart the way for Caribbean political unity.

 

The Hon Girlyn Miguel, Minister of Education, St Vincent and the Grenadines whose Remarks were delivered by Mrs Laura Browne, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, pointed to the many challenges and issues, such as natural disasters, health, transportation, crime and violence that seemingly plagued the Region and opined that those were issues which should occupy not just the minds of our Heads of Government but every Caribbean citizen.

 

'What is clear is that we need persons with a variety of skills to manage our Region since the issues are multifaceted,' the Education Minister asserted.

 

She challenged the students to hone their knowledge and skills and use such to denounce violence, drugs and crime and to return to their communities to assist in making their respective countries better places.

 

CARICOM Secretary-General HE Edwin Carrington whose message was read by Ms Marilyne Trotz, Special Adviser in the Office of the Secretary-General said it was significant that the Thirty-fifth Anniversary of the Treaty of Chaguaramas was being marked by an activity in which Youth was the focus of attention.

 

He said it was very important that all citizenry and particular the youth whom he described as the inheritors of the Region should identify with what the Community was doing and commit to contributing to bringing about the shifts in attitudes required to create a new and better Caribbean, especially at this juncture, where the Community was seeking 'to improve trade arrangements and to access new markets for its produce.'

 

All of this, the CARICOM Secretary-General said meant that 'our people must become more productive and competitive in various sectoral areas such as agriculture, manufacturing and services.'  

 

He charged the students to use the knowledge that they would have gained from the experience of the competition to contribute to their development as committed Caribbean citizen and expressed his anticipation of receiving the winners at the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Antigua and Barbuda in July.

 

Ambassador Designate of St Vincent and the Grenadines to CARICOM, His Excellency Ellsworth John, who also brought remarks said the event was significant in that it allowed the students to focus on 'what and who we are as a people; our hopes and our aspirations as well as what would motivate us to move forward and develop as a Region.'

 

Ambassador John expressed his hope that in participating, the students would understand the utmost necessity of regional integration.

 

Referring to the impending signing of the European Partnership Agreement (EPA ) he explained to the students that it was imperative for the Caribbean to come together to negotiate with Third State grouping such as the European Union as 'this would help us to maximise the benefits for the entire Region.'

 

Dr Morella Joseph, Programme Manager, Human Resource Development of the CARICOM Secretariat who put the competition into context noted that the Quiz was organised to mark the Thirty-fifth Anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas.   The quiz is aimed at increasing the knowledge of students about the Caribbean community and the integration movement, she said.

 

The second Zonal Round will be held in Trinidad and Tobago on 17 -18 June after which four teams would advance to the semi–finals in Antigua and Barbuda on 30 June. The winning team will be presented to the Conference of Heads of Government on July 1 at the Opening Ceremony.