Jamaica is honoured to be hosting this 31st regular meeting of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, in Montego Bay, a city -which the Secretary-General had pointed out - whose links with the Caribbean integration movement go back to that historic conference in 1947 when British colonies of the Caribbean met here to chart a course for the region as the world emerged from the Second World War. It is therefore fitting, then, that we should assemble again in Montego Bay to renew our commitments and evaluate our progress. This opportunity was afforded us by our sister Republic of Haiti which had to forego the honour of leading CARICOM in this semester relinquished that position in order to concentrate on the urgent task of rebuilding following the disastrous earthquake of January 12t.

We are happy to have with us the distinguished President of Haiti, His Excellency René Preval. He is someone who has faced challenges of such immeasurable proportions and we in CARICOM salute his leadership in this time of crisis and post-crisis reconstruction. We want to assure the Haitian people of the steadfast support of the Caribbean Community in the immense task of recovery and advancement which now confronts them.

The reconstruction of Haiti is CARICOM’s most urgent priority. We commend the international community for the commitments of financial support amounting to almost US$10 billion from 57 donor countries and organizations. However, we impress upon the international community the urgency with which actions must follow these commitments especially in strengthening the institutional capacity of Haiti to undertake the mammoth task at hand. We are proud of the diligent role played by CARICOM’s Special Representative on Haiti, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson. CARICOM will continue to do everything it can to ensure that the Haitian people are not only put back on their feet, but on a firm path to sustained growth.

We are delighted to have the UN Secretary General, HE Ban Ki-Moon, at this Conference of CARICOM Heads and we look forward with great anticipation to the discussions we will have with him. Our Conference is also very pleased to welcome once again the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, HE José Miguel Insulza, a strong supporter of CARICOM with whom our region has maintained very strong and very productive relations.

Tomorrow, for the first time, as we have already been told also, at a CARICOM Conference of Heads, we will welcome the Managing Director of the IMF, Mr. Dominique Strauss Khan. The issues which we shall discuss with him are of critical importance to our region, especially at this time.

I must add my welcome to the new Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar and congratulate her on her historic achievement. My Colleague Heads and I look forward to the wisdom which she will bring to our deliberations. Trinidad and Tobago has always played a significant role in CARICOM and we have every confidence that it will continue to do so under her leadership.

We congratulate the Hon. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, whose government was re-elected since our last regular conference. We welcome back to the leadership of CARICOM the Hon. Reuben Meade who was appointed Chief Minister of Montserrat following his party’s victory in September but who, because of circumstances beyond his control, is unable to attend this Conference. We welcome, as well, the Hon. Hubert Hughes, the new Chief Minister of Anguilla, who assumed office following elections, held in January. We anticipate the solid contribution we know they will all make to the work of CARICOM. We regret sincerely the absence of the Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. David Thompson, due to ill health. I believe I speak for all who are gathered here in assuring him of our prayers and support.

The outcome of the constitutional process to form a new government in Suriname following its elections in May has not yet been determined. We are, however, pleased to welcome the Surinamese delegation that is here despite the uncertainties of the transition.

We remain concerned at the suspension of representative government in the Turks and Caicos Islands and we urge a speedy restoration of democracy consistent with the principles of good governance. The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica, the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, whom we also congratulate on the re-election of his government since our last regular Conference, deserves our heartiest commendation for his chairmanship of CARICOM since January this year. His was a period that tested the capacity of our Community to respond to unexpected crises. We are proud of the leadership he gave us.

Over the next three days, we will meet as leaders of 14 sovereign nations and 6 British overseas territories comprising over 16 million people who have so much in common, but are equally enriched by the diversity that makes us the remarkable people that we are.

In a real sense, this Community was not created by the Treaty of Chaguaramas. It existed as a natural consequence of our geography, our shared history and common circumstances. What Chaguaramas did was to give it a formal structure, define its purpose and ideals and establish the principles and rules on which it must operate.

We must, however, be mindful of the disillusionment expressed so often by many of our people who feel that CARICOM has not worked, that it has not lived up to their expectations. There is no shortage of cynics who watch as we gather in Montego Bay and sigh “There they go again!” It is nowhere as bad as some make it out to be. We have made progress in several areas and that is not to be discounted or discredited. But we must acknowledge that 37 years after Chaguaramas, 21 years after Grand Anse and 9 years after Chaguaramas revisted, we have still not fulfilled the dreams of those visionaries who led the integration movement before. We have not yet achieved even the goals that we as the contemporary heirs of that legacy have set for our time. We have identified what is called our “implementation deficit”. We have not agreed on how to fix it.

The issue of CARICOM’S governance structure cannot any longer be avoided. As we go onto this Conference, we are called by commentators to put up or shut up, to make this thing work or forget about it. The impatience that is expressed is oblivious of the need to make sure we get it right, to make sure that it will endure.

We delude ourselves if we believe that we alone, as leaders who are subject to the vicissitudes of competitive politics, are competent to give that mandate. We delude ourselves if we believe that we can achieve the integration we seek without building trust and understanding not only among ourselves as leaders but among the people we lead. Of all our failings, perhaps our greatest is to believe that we can unite the Caribbean without first uniting the Caribbean people. That is an issue this Conference must take up in the context of the governance structure that we must address. Let Montego Bay, as it has done in the past, be a turning point, a new beginning.

But let us declare that the process will not always be smooth and problem-free. Every community of nations faces the likelihood, from time to time, of dissonance between its declared community goals and actions and the peculiar circumstances and priorities of its individual members. Ask the European Union! We are no different.

As leaders who are held accountable by our separate constituencies, we have the sometimes difficult task of ensuring and convincing our people of the consistency between community goals and national aspirations; that what is required by CARICOM is good for our separate selves. This is not an issue to be dismissed as mere insularity. It must be addressed in all its complexities in a deliberative, constructive and helpful way.

We must do so because, notwithstanding these difficulties, we are faced with the stark reality that the world is realigning itself into huge blocs with defined interests that determine how they relate to the rest of the world and how they relate to us. None of us, especially those as small as we are, can or will make it on our own. Even as a community of 16 million people, we are sufficiently at risk.

We are being pressed to enter into trading arrangements in which we are ill-equipped to compete. We delude ourselves if we think the world owes us anything – a world that believes that it has more than repaid whatever debt it might have owed. Our reality check is that we are on our own and we must decide whether in the journey that we must make we will walk alone or walk together.

Our reckoning is made more urgent by emerging new challenges that confront us separately and collectively. Our economies have been severely dislocated by the global recession. We do not have the resources or the fiscal space to support effective stimulus packages to refloat our economies. Our economies are naked, shivering for warmth in the blizzard of the global crisis. Some of the gains we made in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals at considerable effort and sacrifice over the last decade have been eroded in the last two years. The global economy is not likely to be the same again and its new configuration, still undetermined, is not likely to be kind to small, open economies like ours. The financial turbulence in Europe suggests that the recession we thought was over may yet have a long way to go.

We in the Caribbean remain orphans in the global financial arrangements, not regarded as poor enough to qualify for special treatment, but not advanced enough to survive without special treatment. The international community has largely overlooked the plight of small, highly-indebted, middle-income countries because we do not pose a threat to the global economy or to the global financial system although the global economy poses a serious threat to us.

These circumstances have made us more vulnerable to the threat posed by organized crime. Crime does not exist in a vacuum. It thrives in an environment in which poverty is prevalent and hope and opportunities limited. We are located along one of the principal routes for the trafficking of illicit drugs. We lack the institutional capacity to secure our borders, patrol our waters or to mount an effective counter-offensive against the powerful narcotics trade. The infestation of communities and the corruption of our institutions present a challenge to which we must respond, but one that requires resources we do not have.

The Regional Security System in the eastern Caribbean and the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative recently launched by President Obama are important mechanisms, but we need to do much more. The transnational nature of organized crime requires much greater collaboration among us and between us and our international partners with equal emphasis being given to the supply, transit and demand sides of the international drug trade. We cannot be given an unfair share of the burden in combating illicit drugs. And we must continue to press for more effective measures to stem the flow of guns into the Caribbean, because not only are they the symbol and tool of criminal organizations, but they filter down to itinerant criminals with grave consequences for the peace and safety of our countries.

Let us also be clear that fighting crime is not just a law-enforcement exercise. It is a major development issue. Rooting out criminal gangs that have embedded themselves in communities will leave a huge space which, if not quickly filled by meaningful programmes that empower people, provide training, create jobs, generate new opportunities and offer hope, will shortly thereafter be filled by a new, smarter generation of criminals. Social intervention and social transformation are the development dimension of the fight against crime that we dare not ignore.

While we strive to improve the effectiveness of CARICOM, we are conscious of the fact that we are part of the larger region of Latin America and the Caribbean in which there are common interests and synergies that must be pursued. As signatories to the Declaration of Intent signed in Cancun, Mexico in February for the establishment of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, we intend to make our contribution to strengthening ties among this larger group of 33 sovereign nations with a combined population of 575 million and with more than adequate resources to provide for all those people a better life.

Our agenda for this Conference is, as usual, heavily laden. It reflects the weight of both our unfinished business and our new challenges. Let us repair to the tasks that we have before us. There has never been a time like this and we must not be found wanting.

I thank you sincerely.