Honourable Michael Brown, Minister of National Mobilisation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Chairman of the Council for Finance and Planning;

Honourable Roosevelt Skerritt, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Dominica;

Other Distinguished Ministers of Finance;

Other Distinguished Ministers;

Central Bank Governors and Deputy Governors;

Representatives of Regional and International Organisations;

Distinguished Delegates and Officials;

Representatives of the Media;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is my pleasurable duty this morning, with these brief remarks, to join the Honourable Minister of The Bahamas in welcoming you to this Twelfth Meeting of the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP).

I am particularly pleased to welcome new Ministers to this Meeting and look forward to their contributions. I am also pleased to welcome St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the chair of this important Community Organ which has, among its many critical functions, primary responsibility for charting the development of our Single Economy. This is a central task of the COFAP, as it seeks to navigate new and creative channels of Regional economic co-operation hitherto not traversed by Regional decision-makers.

Indeed, Mr Chairman, St Vincent and the Grenadines is assuming the chairmanship of COFAP at a defining moment in the evolution of our integration movement. For this is the time when arrangements are being finalised for the launch of the CARICOM Development Fund including the Regional Development Agency, which is pivotal to the equitable development of our Single Market and Economy.

The launching of the CARICOM Development Fund seeks, as you know, to give effect to Article 158 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which established the Fund to treat with the concerns of our Disadvantaged Countries, Regions and Sectors. This Fund, set to start at US$250 million, of which US$120 million will be provided by Member States – the rest hopefully by our International Development Partners - is akin to the Structural and Cohesion Fund established by the European Community in their pursuit of their Single Market and used with telling effect to bring to an acceptable economic level today, the then lesser developed economies of Europe, including Spain, Portugal, Greece and Ireland.

The Community’s strategy in establishing the Fund, involves incorporating the functions of the proposed Regional Development Agency within the ambit of the Development Fund.

This will facilitate the effective implementation of the Special Regime in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas for the less developed members of the Community.

As regards the Development Agency, its functions are being submitted today for your consideration. This instrument is expected to provide technical assistance to the less developed countries, to facilitate investment promotion and mobilization and to support enterprise competitiveness and business development.

This Council therefore has the opportunity to crystallize the idea of our Heads of Government for the creation of a Development Agency as a strong, effective and responsive instrument through the decisions you will take today for endorsement by the Conference when it meets tomorrow.

The overall effect of this strategy, when reinforced as it will, by the OECS drive to establish an Economic Union, will be to facilitate the transformation of the Regional Economy.

Honourable Ministers, the agenda for today’s Meeting contains several other issues which address the role of financial capital in promoting growth and economic transformation. One long outstanding and particularly important issue is the establishment of a Regional Stock Exchange as the basis for an integrated capital market within the Community. In this regard, the Council needs to seriously address the issues relating to the full integration of the capital markets in the Community. Equally important, is the initiative to establish a Tourism Investment Fund.

Hopefully, your dialogue today will lead to a public/private partnership which can help to fill investment financing gaps in the Tourism Industry, which is after all, the most important economic driver in the Region’s Economic Development.

Honourable Ministers, distinguished delegates, at your last Meeting in February 2007, you took the decision to adopt the Single Development Vision towards a CARICOM Single Economy. As you are aware, your decision received the concurrence of Heads of Government and led to the agreement that a Strategic Plan for Regional Development (SPRD) should be formulated. My staff and I have worked assiduously towards obtaining the necessary extra-budgetary financing required for undertaking this task. A report on the status of this activity will be provided for your consideration at this Meeting. We look forward to receiving your guidance as we continue to advance this important initiative.

Honourable Ministers, in concluding these remarks, it would be remiss of me if I did not express my gratitude to the Officials, who have laboured to provide the Council with the necessary technical recommendations to be found in their report. Equally, I must convey to the Government and People of The Bahamas, our deep appreciation for the splendid hospitality extended to us all since our arrival in this wonderful country. Our stay here will be all the more memorable if this Meeting succeeds in achieving its objectives, which I have all confidence it will.

I thank you.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org