His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Secretary-General of CARICOM, Honourable Ministers of regional governments, CARICOM youth ambassadors, youth reps, members of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development (CCYD), other officials, my brothers and sisters good day & greetings from Montserrat.

I must first join in the sentiments that others have expressed by extending commendations to the members of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development who have really given such a holistic overview of the issues and plight of our region’s youth. I must further commend the CARICOM Secretariat especially Dr. Johnson and her team who worked tirelessly in an effort to mould the mind and foster the development of our region’s youth leaders. At this juncture, I think it would be remiss of me not to highlight that I am a product of the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Programme and consequently seven years after my induction as a CYA elected to Government at the age of 24 years -arguably the youngest Parliamentarian in the Common Wealth today.

I highlighted this to emphasize that yes the CARICOM Youth Ambassador Programme does have exceptional merit, and regional governments should continue to support the continued development of the programme as we can see its benefits. I dare say each and every one of these Ambassadors has the potential and magnitude to be our future leaders.

Now we are gathered here in Paramaribo to discuss the findings and recommendations of the Commission and to seek the commitment of participation and partnership from the Conference; let me further commend the Heads of Government for establishing this Commission which I will again state gives a comprehensive analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CSME. It must underscore the importance those who established the Commission to identify with the findings of the report and not deflect it to the Ministers of Youth who themselves are likely to deflect the report to their Permanent Secretaries and Youth directors. Ministerial colleagues I advise strongly against such actions as that maybe perceived as indifference and an insult to the nine million strong youth of our region.

As the policy covers several areas such as:

1. Youth and CSME
2. The Situation of Caribbean Adolescent and Youth
3. Governance and Participation
4. Youth and Caribbean Development
5. Partnership and Participation

The Report also details issues on education and relevance, employment, health, crime and violence, youths as change agents, drug abuse, youth tokenism and the list goes on.

I however wish to emphasize two areas that are close to me, the aspect of Youth Participation and the aspect tokenism. As I observed the deliberations of the youth summit and the enthusiasm exhibited as they expressed themselves on the issues, I was reminded of my time as CYA when that same enthusiasm was shared. Ministerial colleagues the time has come for us to stop showing support to our youths in the hope of silencing them or to gain political mileage on the platform at the next election. Being involved at the political level and being very youthful myself, I have first hand experience of both sides of the coin and can identify with either.

Colleagues, too long as politicians the issues of Youth Development has been side- lined not to be priority on our countries agenda’s as what is deemed as the ‘bread and butter issues’ takes preference over the sustainability of our region through the development of our youths. The time has come for us to honestly recognize the importance of genuinely involving our youths with confidence at policy levels throughout our region. On the other hand I call upon our youth, when given the opportunity, (as I will be advocating on our regions youths behalf for that opportunity to participate fully), be ready and willing to take on the challenges ahead.

Finally I want to further echo the sentiments of my youth colleagues and make a call for all agencies within the Caribbean dealing with youth development whether it is UNESCO, UNDP, CARICOM, CYP and others to do more at collaborating on issues of Youth Development as we all try to achieve the same outcomes in the interest of our region’s youth.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org