Mr. Chairman, Dr. the Honourable Keith Mitchell, Colleague Heads of Government, Honourable Ministers, Secretary General Mr. Edwin Carrington, Delegates, Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I wish to extend a warm welcome to all of you to Port of Spain.

I am also pleased to extend a special welcome to the Chairman of CARICOM, Dr. the Honourable Keith Mitchell, whose tenacity and steadfastness in dealing with the disaster, which befell his country has been an inspiration to all of us, in the aftermath of the passage of Hurricane Ivan.

Over the course of the last two months, our Region has confronted some of its greatest natural disasters challenges. And I feel a great sense of pride in being able to say today that in the face of such adversity the people of the Caribbean have stood together and demonstrated our unity.

The tremendous outpouring of love and compassion shown by all sectors of our Community for those affected provides tangible evidence of the strong platform on which we stand today, and on which we will make plans to collectively move forward on our agenda for Caribbean integration and sustained economic development.

It should inspire us to proceed with greater Regional self-assurance and resolve as we meet once again to strengthen the CARICOM family and improve the lives of our people.

At this our Tenth Special Meeting, we have already committed ourselves to the consideration of issues related thereto, and our presence here bears testimony to our determination to resolve them.

Our deliberations over the next two days will focus on matters related to the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, including the financing of its Work Programme.

Other key issues include the programme for the conduct of external negotiations, in particular with our European partners, and further these considerations in respect of our options for governance in the context of the integration of our countries.

Given this, I consider it important to reaffirm Trinidad and Tobago's solemn commitment to the Regional integration process. We have been consistent in pursuit and support of Regional development. This year, our contribution to the work of the CARICOM Secretariat amounts to TT $19,380,000 and, for the records, we are not in arrears.

We have introduced and shouldered many initiatives, based on their importance and the difficulty fellow Member States would face in treating with the issues they were designed to confront, our own involvement of course being subject to the extent of our capacity to assist.

Our Region faces many challenges and we have sought to respond appropriately and at every level.

The Region, for example, has established a Task Force on Crime, which we fund on our own, on behalf of CARICOM. In the face of the devastation visited on our Region during the hurricane season, our package of support amounted to $TT35 million and extended to six countries, including Cuba.

We also continue to press on with the implementation of policies that we are convinced will make the CARICOM economy stronger and reduce our vulnerability to the international economic environment. We have for example been allowing countries and companies in the Region to borrow on the domestic market, indeed in a situation in which they would not have been able to do so on the international market, on terms and conditions favourable to them. Last year such borrowing amounted to US $500M.

Just last month, we instituted and launched in Jamaica, the CARICOM Trade Support Programme. It seeks to support and strengthen the Region's private sector, by providing assistance to firms, so as to enable them to improve their competitiveness and export capability. This is part of our strategy to make businesses in our Region CSME-ready on a timely basis. The facility of $100M TT contemplates interest free loans to non-TT companies.

As all are aware, a major difficulty facing our Region in recent times has been the rising cost of crude oil and petroleum products. The Regional challenge in respect of energy supplies requires short, medium and long terms solutions. It necessitates a comprehensive and a sufficiently variegated approach, as there exist a range of needs and Regional and sub-Regional issues. Trinidad and Tobago is currently putting together its full and comprehensive policy on Regional energy supplies. However, as part of this and in responses to the escalating difficulties being faced in the Region, we move today to formally announce the establishment by the government of Trinidad and Tobago of a special facility to assist CARICOM Member States. The facility is designed to provide relief in the face of persistently high crude oil prices, and to cushion the harsh impact of such prices on the lives of the people of our Region. We have done this by way of establishing a fund through accruals based on a particular formula, which is a function of the purchase by CARICOM countries of products from Petrotrin.

As such, Trinidad and Tobago established, effective from 1st July 2004, a grant facility capitalized at a maximum of TT$25 M per month. By the end of October last, just a few days ago, TT$100 M would have already accrued. Over one year, which is the period for which this facility will operate in the first instance, with the option for its renewal thereafter, this facility will realize an accumulation of TT $300M.

CARICOM Members States can now draw down on these funds, which we have stipulated must be used, however, for poverty eradication.

The facility is to be administered by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and disbursements to Member States are to be determined by the Heads of State in collaboration with the said Bank.

We must continue to search for longer-term solutions that would regularize energy supplies to our Caribbean neighbours. In this respect, the feasibility studies for the distribution of natural gas to the Region via pipeline now indicate that this effort will require, not one, but two major lines across the Region. One line will extend from Tobago to Barbados and unto Martinique, with a spur south to St. Lucia, and would move further north to Guadeloupe with another spur to Dominica. There is the potential for an additional spur from Guadeloupe to Antigua and St. Kitts. This pipeline to Guadeloupe, according to the feasibility studies, is economic and projected to cost in the order of US $527M.

On the other hand, the technical issues now indicate that a separate line is necessary from Tobago to Grenada and St. Vincent. This line, projected to cost US $161M, is not economic and can only be installed if the States involved will underwrite a significant part of the cost. 

Against this background, the government of Trinidad and Tobago is also considering an alternative, which is the supply of power to Grenada and St Vincent via submarine cable from Trinidad. This is projected to cost in the vicinity of US $90M, and is well worth our consideration, especially in the context of the balanced development we are pursuing in the Region, and in light of the fact that neglect of Member States already demonstrably vulnerable will continue to countervail Regional advancement.

In Trinidad and Tobago we are well aware of the implications and, as such, propose to make Tobago a 'green area"; that is to say, an environmentally-friendly country, using natural gas not only for electricity generation, but also for air conditioning, and as fuel for cooking in homes, and as motor fuel.

Ladies and gentlemen, the extension of gas supplies to the Region will bring every island so serviced within the ambit we hold for Tobago, and for Trinidad and Tobago. However, we must be prepared to forge ahead. Trinidad and Tobago continues to demonstrate its willingness to so do.

In this regard, it is appropriate to advise colleague Heads that tomorrow evening, the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica will sign a Memorandum of Understanding whereby TT will supply LNG to Jamaica at preferential prices and assume a participating interest in the necessary storage and regasification storage to be constructed in Jamaica.

Caribbean Governments meeting in Trinidad some two months ago, took the decision to give budget support to Grenada. On the basis of an agreement by Caribbean Heads, US $5M or TT $31.5M was dispersed to Grenada. In addition to the TT$10M placed directly into that consolidated fund, Trinidad and Tobago has been assisting Grenada in other ways. Several of our government agencies are involved in restorative efforts on the island.

The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission has seven crews working to bring electricity supplies to normalcy. Our Water and Sewerage Authority has been operating there to regularize the water situation. Our Community Environment Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) has some 108 Trinidad and Tobago employees working alongside 200 Grenadians at work on the island. All these workers are paid by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.

We have introduced the CEPEP concept in Grenada, as a programme designed to fast track the restoration effort, improve and provide physical amenities, and to expand entrepreneurship among the traditionally deprived and dispossessed who, in the case of Grenada, are the offspring of those most negatively affected by the institution of slavery.

We support some 231 troops in Grenada at this time together with the necessary logistal support of vehicles, helicopters and other aircraft and seacraft.

Trinidad and Tobago remains very supportive. However, our recent exposure to the ravages visited on and the difficulties facing the southeastern Caribbean has been very instructive.

This, together with our commitments to our southern Caribbean neighbours to date, suggests that Trinidad and Tobago can only continue to assist in the context of some agreement among CARICOM countries.

Taking the security of the southern Caribbean into consideration, for example, Trinidad and Tobago is installing a sophisticated Radar System in our own country. However, information coming to us suggests that it might be necessary to the same in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This involves cost in the vicinity of US $6M; expenditure beyond the capacity of the countries involved at this time.

And as Trinidad and Tobago take steps to protect its own border, we cannot remain oblivious to the need for proper border protection and drug interdiction efforts in the entire Eastern Caribbean, an issue that is beginning to loom larger and larger on the economic and social landscape of the Region.

All of this points, not just simply in the direction of Regional integration; rather, a clear case seems to emerge for greater and speedier integration of the southern Caribbean. This is the direction and approach that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago perceives as necessary, and we shall be working assiduously to achieve what is required in this regard.

As Caribbean leaders, we have all repeatedly underscored the need for increased collaboration among Member States. We can and have taken positive steps toward this objective.

The establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is a case in point, and I wish to reiterate the commitment of the government of Trinidad and Tobago towards providing adequate accommodation for the functioning of the Court.

The recent devastation in our Region coupled with drastic changes in the international economic climate suggest that we must approach matters with the dispatch and determination reflective of the nature of the challenges before us.

Just as well, every progressive avenue must be explored. Of necessity, we must be prepared to highlight our economic and environmental vulnerabilities and to seek the co-operation of our partners in the relevant international fora, and among the international donor community.

In this regard, we must remain cognizant that within the forum of the United Nations there has been continuous work to advance the interest of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), particularly in relation to natural disasters and economic integration in the global community.

I therefore also wish to remind Member States of the Review of the Barbados Plan of Action for Sustainable Development of SIDS to be held in Mauritius in January 2005, and to underscore the importance of the proposed deliberations to us in the Region, with respect to implementation of the Programme.

In closing, I wish to take this opportunity to extend warm greetings to Dr the Honourable Denzil Douglas on his re-election to office, and to assure him of the continued support of the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago.

To my Colleague Heads, Ministers and other delegates, I extend best wishes for successful and productive deliberations.

I do hope that you will have the opportunity to enjoy Trinidad and Tobago's hospitality during your stay with us, it being, of course, the local variation of the warmth, generosity, goodwill and conviviality, for which the people across our Region are deservedly well known.

I thank you. May God bless our nations.