(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) On behalf of the Government and people of Saint Lucia, I bid you a warm welcome on this, the occasion of the 18th Meeting of the Executive Board of the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP). Since its first diagnosis in 1985, successive governments have aggressively responded both at home and in the wider region to ensure that this epidemic was under control.

Among the successes in my country’s response is the fact that, since 2006, there has been no recorded cases of mother-to-child transmission among registered clients. Increasingly, HIV positive clients are enrolling into care and treatment programmes because we have scaled up our HIV testing and clinic access. The important role that our Civil Society Organisations are playing in this process cannot be underemphasized.

They have for example provided support to people living with HIV &AIDS, community outreach and mobilization of most-at-risk populations, support to young people, including in-school and out of school youth; workplace policy development and awareness in raising the level of cooperation within the private sector. Saint Lucia has always been committed to regional integration, and I use this opportunity on behalf of my government to reaffirm this commitment to the wider concept of integration, and indeed the specific issue of a regional response to the HIV & AIDS epidemic.

It was here in Saint Lucia, just over eleven years ago, and just eight months after the signing of the establishing PANCAP Commitment, that the First Annual General Meeting of the Partnership was held at the hotel just next to this one - the Bay Gardens Hotel. The record of that meeting shows that there were approximately 50 participants representing a cross section of agencies and development partners. It makes reference to the important guiding role of UNAIDS and the coordinating role of the CARICOM Secretariat that had responsibility for chairing the Task Force on HIV in the Caribbean.

It also refers to the decision to develop a Regional Strategic Framework with broad based consultation and funded by the Department For International Development (DFID). As it has emerged, the Regional Strategic Frameworks 2002-2006 and 2008-2012 have been the rocks upon which PANCAP has built a strong foundation that accords with the three ones principle – one strategic framework, one coordinating agency and one M&E process. We in Saint Lucia have been pleased to observe the remarkable progress of this Partnership. PANCAP in its journey over these eleven years has, without a doubt, demonstrated the principle that the sum is always greater than each of its parts.

That is why the current Government has been on record as playing an active role in PANCAP’s efforts to promote Universal Access to prevention, care, treatment in support with special reference to reducing stigma and discrimination between 2004 and 2006. It was involved in that famous mission to Brazil that resulted in the agreement for that country to provide anti-retroviral drugs to all PLHIV in the OECS and we chaired the Champions for Change meeting of Faith Based Organisations held in Guyana in 2005. So St Lucia has a legacy which is intertwined with PANCAP’s success.

This Executive Meeting takes on even greater importance and perhaps may even turn out to be a watershed, as we decide on the path that needs to be taken that would yield the most results in an environment where resources are scarce and would ensure the gains that have been made in the Caribbean’s fight against this epidemic are sustained.

Once again, I bid you all a most warm welcome to Saint Lucia and fruitful deliberations over the next two days. At the end of your daily sessions, I urge you to make time to relax, explore, discover the beauty of the “Helen of the West” – its people, food, culture and music which we have in abundance.

Thank you.

CONTACT: Volderine Hackett pancap@caricom.org
                                           piu@caricom.org
                                           vhackett@caricom.org
                                           Website: www.pancap.org