• Honourable Roosvelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica and Chairman of the Conference;

• His Excellency Runaldo Venetiaan, President of Suriname

• His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana

• His Excellency, Ramdien Sardjoe, Vice President of Suriname;

• Heads of Delegation of CARICOM Member States

• Honourable Ministers;

• Chairman of the National Assembly of Suriname

• Distinguished Members of the Parliament;

• Members of the Diplomatic Corps;

• CARICOM Commissioners on Youth Development;

• Assistant Secretaries-General, Dr Edward Greene and Ambassador Colin Granderson, and Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat;

• CARICOM Youth Ambassadors;

• Other Distinguished Delegates;

• Representatives of the Media

• Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

The Future is here and now. As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community I am honored and pleased to be involved in the process of ushering in what must be the beginning of a new era for CARICOM and its youth, in this the United Nations International Year of Youth.

Mr. Chairman, other Heads of Government, Honourable Ministers, we have reached this point today after three years of hard work leading up to this week which began with the Regional Youth Forum on Wednesday. That was a most stimulating and energizing experience. On Thursday, we experienced a Ministerial Council on Human and Social Development (COHSOD) with rare insight and perspective. Today, the process culminates with the two-day Special Summit on Youth beginning this afternoon.

In welcoming you all to this Summit, I reiterate the Community’s gratitude to the Government and People of Suriname for graciously hosting this week’s series of Meetings which provided us with this golden opportunity to foster an engagement between our youth and our political leaders.

Permit me to pay tribute to the Lead Head of Government with responsibility for Youth in the CARICOM Quasi-Cabinet, the President of Suriname, His Excellency Runaldo Venetiaan. Excellency, the Community is deeply indebted to you for your committed and effective leadership in the areas of Culture, Gender, and Youth and for the process that brought us here today. Indeed your involvement and support of the CARICOM Commission on Youth Development and its work, assisted in no small measure in the Commission’s task. I am sure I speak for all when I say a heartfelt thank you.

I must also acknowledge the source of the proposal for the establishment of a CARICOM Commission for Youth. That was none other than the current Chairman of CARICOM, the Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt, Prime Minister of Dominica. He it was, who put forward the proposal at the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in St Kitts and Nevis in July 2006. In doing so, he called for an in-depth study on the situation of Youth in the Community which led to the mandate from Heads of Government to the Commission to conduct “a full scale analysis of the challenges and opportunities for youth in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME); and with making recommendations to improve their well-being and empowerment.”

So now Commissioners you know whom to blame or thank for causing you to slog through those long hours across 18 Member States and Associate Members of CARICOM!! Thank you Chairman.

The work of the Commission involved intensive planning, financing and management as well as co-operation from a number of sources - youth movements, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors, development partners, Member States, mainly through the Ministries of Youth and the staff of the Secretariat. Armed with this broad-based support, the conscientious band of 12 Commissioners, led by Prof. Barry Chevannes and Ms. Yildz (Ildiz) Beighle (Big Lee), embarked on their onerous task. As Secretary-General, I wish to record the greatest appreciation for their work and ask the CARICOM Commissioners of Youth Development to stand so that we could all applaud them for their outstanding efforts.

Today’s engagement between CARICOM youth and their Heads of Government is not the first of such interactions. In 1999, Representatives of the youth engaged CARICOM Leaders at a retreat session here in Suriname, on the banks of the Saramacca River. However, the preparation through widespread consultations within Member States and Associate Members and the overall sensitization of the public as to the major challenges and solutions of youth development is what makes this Commission’s work unique.

The Report provides the Region and its policy makers with concrete evidence on the situation of youth, which could allow the Region to move forward meaningfully with an agenda for action: an agenda which places emphasis on an Eye on the Future and on Youth Now - both apt slogans emanating from the “dreams and aspirations” reverberating in the chorus of youth voices throughout the Report.

One of the outcomes of that first Meeting in 1999 was the rejuvenation of the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors Corps, originally established in 1993.

Since then, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors have continued to play a vital role in several areas of Community life: especially in health, environment, information, education and communication. One of the most highly acclaimed collective ventures of the Ambassadors Corps during this period has been the initiation and execution of a mini-grants programme, sponsored by the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), for the accelerated approach to HIV prevention among the Youth of the Region.

Indeed, an official Report at the 7th Annual Meeting of PANCAP in 2008, identified the positive contribution of the Ambassadors to the enhanced awareness of HIV prevention. The value of this achievement cannot be overstated.

There are many other successes by our youth in every aspect of development. Yet there is cause for concern from some of the findings in the Report. When, for example, youth could perceive a future as “we either in jail or dead, we have no employment and no hope” or when our youth could describe the CSME as “only for those with money or degrees” we need to ask the question why?

The answers lie in the very Report and in its appeals for greater involvement of youth in the decision-making process in their countries and in the Community; greater opportunities for fashioning their entrepreneurial skills; and greater attention to revamping policies and programmes of relevance and benefit to youth.

Of particular importance, is the making of the education system more relevant, by enhancing its “Caribbeaness” and that of the environment in which the youths of the Region function. All these factors would help to foster the vibrancy of current and future leaders of this unique Region and thereby consolidate and accelerate the gains of the past and truly make CARICOM a Community for All.

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issues highlighted by the Commission are not new, but their scope, impact and intensity are reaching crisis proportions, demanding decisive and urgent action. This is implicit in the theme for the Summit: YOUTH NOW for the Community Tomorrow.

That theme must however, be explicitly imbued with the reality that while youth – and indeed adults as well – have the right to demand changes in the institutions and procedures of their societies including the Caribbean Community, to advance their individual and collective interests, they also have responsibilities, as I had caused to say a few days ago, to be among the main builders and contributors as well.

It is with this perspective and fervent hope that this Summit and the Declaration that emerges therefrom, will help us all to find a way to truly create the Caribbean Community For All - adolescents, youths and adults.

I thank you.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org