(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, Acting Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Monday urged the Community Council of Ministers to seek to “find solutions as an integrated whole” to the challenges the Region faced.

Delivering remarks at the opening session of the Twenty-Seventh Meeting of the Community Council on 17 January 2011 at the Georgetown, Guyana headquarters of the CARICOM Secretariat, Ambassador Applewhaite said integrated solutions were critical as Member States struggled to emerge from the depths of the global financial and economic crises.

“CARICOM countries are noted for the ability to be each other’s keeper in times of disaster and peril. That spirit must now be summoned if we are to combat successfully the challenges we now face,” she said.

In reminding The Council of its “pivotal role” in strategic planning and co-ordination in the areas of economic integration, functional co-operation and external relations, the Acting Secretary-General noted that its responsibilities had assumed greater significance in the challenging social, financial and international environments in which it operated.

The volatility of tourism, one of the Region’s major economic sectors, the troubling inability of the international community to fulfil their financial pledges to rebuild Haiti, had placed greater importance on the role of the Council, Ambassador Applewhaite said.

“The onus is on this Council, as the first to meet for the year, to show the way for the others to follow by dispensing its obligations in such a manner, with a unity of purpose and action that guides those that follow in the year ahead,” the Acting Secretary-General said.

Ambassador Applewhaite lauded the “inspirational leadership” of the former Secretary-General Sir Edwin Carrington in the face of “many challenges”. She noted Sir Edwin’s absence for the first time in eighteen years and commended his stewardship of the Community, particularly through the challenging year of 2010.

In his remarks, Chairman of the Community Council Senator the Honourable Denneth Modeste, Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Environment, Foreign Trade and Export Development of Grenada also lauded the “sterling contribution” of Sir Edwin to the Community during his 18-year tenure as CARICOM Secretary-General.

The Council Chairman also pointed out that the peculiar circumstances of 2010 had served to strengthen the Community’s resolve to deepen its integration initiatives.

Minister Modeste highlighted the Community’s ongoing interventions in Haiti’s reconstruction; in combating the scourge of cholera; and in assisting in the political, economic and social stabalisation of the CARICOM French-Speaking Member State.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org