Honourable Price Pady, National Authorising Officer of Haiti
Assistant Secretary-General of CARIFORUM in the CARICOM Secretariat
Ambassadors of CARIFORUM Member States
Heads of Delegations
Other Delegates

More than 15 years ago, Haiti and the Dominican Republic became signatories to the Lome Convention. At that time both became members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States. CARIFORUM was formed in 1992 and a CARIFORUM Secretariat was established in 1993.

For the first time, as a CARIFORUM Group, we are having a CARIFORUM Ministerial Meeting in Haiti. This Meeting is in fact the Fifteenth Meeting of Ministers of CARIFORUM and our Meeting, today and tomorrow, constitutes the technical Meeting preparatory to the Meeting of Ministers. It has taken us a long time to get to Haiti and it gives us great pleasure to be here. We do not intend to take too long to return particularly given the warm reception and excellent arrangements from which we have benefited at this meeting and for which I am certain that all the delegations will join with me in saying `thank you’ to the government and people of Haiti.

Ladies and gentlemen, there are a number of important and sensitive issues on the agenda for discussion. As you are aware, we have almost completed the programming of the financial resources which were available to us for regional programmes under the Ninth European Development Fund (EDF). We will receive a report on that process. The report will show that, as a group, we are currently implementing Caribbean Regional Programmes valued at more than €200 Million or US$270 Million. This includes Haiti/Dominican Republic Transborder Infrastructure Programme in Dejabon and a Haiti/Dominican Republic Transborder Environment Programme.

We will also discuss how, as a Region, we propose to use the €165 Million or US$220 Million made available to us for regional programmes, by the EDF, under the Regional Indicative Programmes of the 10th EDF. By the end of our technical meeting, we should be in a position to advise our Ministers, who will meet here on Thursday and Friday on the proposals for the use of these resources having had yesterday the input from civil society and other stakeholders who participated fully in the process. I cannot stress enough the importance of this inclusiveness, for if as a Region we are to make optimal use of the resources available to us, it has to be done with all hands on deck, swabbing in the same direction.

Our agenda also contains provisions for a discussion on the status of the work of the Regional Preparatory Task Force associated with EPA Negotiations. In that discussion, we will examine what we must do to prepare ourselves to honour the commitments which we make in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) which we are currently negotiating with the European Union. In that regard, as officials we must bear in mind the guidance provided by our Heads of State and Government at their Special Meeting in Montego Bay two weeks ago on the issue of the EPA.

As you are no doubt aware, we cannot complete a discussion on development and integration in the Caribbean without a discussion on infrastructure particularly on Transportation, Communication and Energy Infrastructure. The difficulty in intra-CARIFORUM air travel, the constraints of sea transportation for the movement of goods and the difficulties of interconnectivity which we experience in relating to each other are indicative of the critical role of infrastructure development in our regional cooperation and integration initiatives. In that context, we are to examine proposals for a CARIFORUM Infrastructure Fund and to make recommendations on the subject to our Ministers.

Finally, one additional matter of great importance which we must address relates to our relationship with the French Overseas Departments of Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Guyane. These departments have applied for Associate Membership in CARIFORUM. We shall be considering the application during this Meeting.

Colleagues, the importance of this Meeting should be clear from the indication which I have given of the matters which we are required to discuss. The implications of these discussions are magnified by the current circumstance and the timing of our EPA Negotiations with the European Union. There is no doubt that the challenges which we face, and will face in the future, will require us to grow closer, cooperate at a more intimate level and close our ranks to collectively face these challenges and to plan our future development. Our Region is only as strong as its weakest link and we must therefore act jointly and severally, as the lawyers would say, to secure our future.

As technical officials, we have a responsibility to offer our best technical advice to our Ministers in such a manner that the good of our Region takes precedence over all else. Let us hope, with that in mind, that we can effectively fulfill our mandate over the next two days in the interest and for the benefit of the people of the Caribbean.

I thank you.

Contact: piu@caricom.org