(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Secretary-General HE Edwin Carrington was among the leaders of the Community who acknowledged that amidst the celebration of 37 years of the Community’s existence, and after 31 Regular Conference the Community still had miles to go in realising the objectives and the ideals of its visionaries.

In delivering opening remarks at the Heads of Government Conference which opened in Montego Bay, Jamaica on Sunday afternoon, the CARICOM Secretary-General enumerated several mile stones of the Community, noting that its strength lay in its capacity to harness six decades of experiences and the benefit of 37 years of a formalised common purpose to work together in combating the effects of global and economic challenges.

“Now more than ever,” the Secretary-General said, the Community needed to stick together in the face of adversity and not allow “demons of despair to hold full sway.”

The Caribbean Community has the distinction of being the longest surviving integration movement among developing countries and had made significant strides in areas including functional cooperation, regional integration, health and education. However it has also attracted criticisms abut its leadership, governance structure and strategic direction.

The Secretary-General, acknowledging that there were internal issues within the Community, cautioned that despite the rich history of the Community, “this was …no time for absolution by History.”

“The pre-eminent reason for our unity must not be cast in the mould of simply battling adversity, nor in the nostalgia of a shared history, instead, it must be in the collective responsibility and prospects for the future well-being of the people of these small vulnerable nation states, who live cheek by jowl around the Caribbean Sea,” he continued

In this context therefore, Secretary-General Carrington appealed to CARICOM Leaders to pay closer attention to the concerns of the youth of the Caribbean whose livelihood he said was at stake.

“They want a Caribbean home in which they can roam from room to room without let, or hindrance in seeking the best one in which to lay their heads. They are eager for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy to be fully implemented. They want it to be a lived experience. We have to do our best to make their dreams possible in this, the Region of their birth,” Secretary-General Carrington emphasized.

He explained further that in meeting the challenge of creating a healthy single domestic space for the youth, the Community would also be giving itself an opportunity “to harness its best talents in its efforts to create space in a world that remains implacably hostile to the interests of small states.”

“It is those talents which reside in our youth that can give us the invigoration and the innovation and creativity necessary to be competitive in the global market place. And it is that drive for competitiveness which would generate the excellence needed to build the kind of Community for which we all yearn,” he added.

The first female Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the Hon Kamla Persad-Bissessar was also warmly welcomed by the CARICOM Secretary-General who expressed anticipation for “the fresh perspectives she would be bringing to the integration process, as she joins her colleague Heads of Government in giving the process the added impetus it needs.”

The incumbent Chair of CARICOM, Jamaica’s Prime Minister the Hon Orette Bruce Golding was also given a warm welcome and was commended for assuming chairmanship of the Community when Haiti was forced to relinquish that position after the January 12 earthquake destroyed that country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

Out going CARICOM Chairman was lauded for the tremendous work he had done in piloting the Community in supporting Haiti during that country’s experience with the natural disaster; and the historic significance of the presence of the UN Secretary-General HE Ban Ki-moon was not missed by the CARICOM Secretary-General who lauded him as one who had helped the Region in securing its place in the contemporary world. This is the first time a UN Secretary-General was attending a CARICOM Heads of Government Summit.

The Secretary-General of the Organisation of American States, His Excellency Jose Miguel Insulza and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn are also attending the three-day conference.

Contact: piu@caricom.org