First of all, we are pleased at the response of our Ministers of Education as attested to by the fact that 12 are present with us today. Ministers, we wish to thank you and your officials as well as the representatives from institutions and development partners for taking the time to join us in doing the Region’s business.

I particularly wish to extend a warm welcome to the Minister and delegation from the Netherland Antilles, a further demonstration of the growing relations that is being developed beyond the reach of the traditional Member and Associate Member States of CARICOM.

Two of our absentee Ministers of Government are from states that have been variously affected by Paloma, and I am sure that you would wish me to take this opportunity to express our sincerest wishes to the governments and peoples of Haiti and the Cayman Islands for a speedy recovery from the effects of this latest hurricane. In a season that has been relentless in the number of lethal storms, it is a reminder of the vulnerability of our Region to natural disasters, and to the need to take seriously the challenges posed by climate change, a major force in our sustainable development.

This Seventeenth COHSOD is significant as much for the special attention it gives to the regional educational agenda as for the emphasis that it places on the accelerated implementation of policies and programmes designed to mold, meld and mature the human resources capacity of this Region. The Meeting examines several issues under the broad agenda items of functional cooperation in education, investing in the knowledge based environment, and creating strong foundations for the future. It illustrates the awareness of the necessity for establishing an enabling environment in which to stimulate creative talents and foster intellectual accomplishments, and the unfolding of skills, such that this Region would be highly competitive in the global arena.

Since the establishment of the Council of Human and Social Development and the other Councils of the Community in 1997, resulting from the revision to the Treaty of Chaguaramas, COHSOD has attempted to devise and implement an integrated programme of work under the theme Investing in Human Resources with Equity. It is only on this basis that this Council, with such a range of programmes - health, education, culture, gender, youth, sport, sustainable development and crime and drug control - could systematically advance the inter-sectoral agenda that places "people" at the centre of its development objectives.

At this Seventeenth COHSOD, even though the major thrust is on assessing the implementation agenda in education, critical to understanding the dynamics of this agenda are, for example, matters related to gender such as the reasons for the underachievement of boys in relation to girls at the various educational levels. The role of education in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a concern that was the focus of a special COHSOD in 2006, and which resulted in the Port–of-Spain Declaration and provides guidelines for the implementation of awareness and preventative programmes in the schools system. At the same time, the International Labour Organisation has taken the lead in providing a manual for dealing with HIV/AIDS at the workplace. And, issues such as crime and violence and particularly violence in schools and the rehabilitation of teen mothers into the school system, require urgent attention with the assistance of social workers and other specialists.

These issues are among approximately twenty-five mandates emanating from this Council and from the Conference of Heads of Government over the past ten years which will be the focus of a special presentation. What is important and heartening is that much has been done by way of implementation and for which Member States and the regional institutions are to be congratulated.

The Caribbean Examination Council (CXC), established in 1972 has, for example, been a landmark of functional cooperation. It therefore gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the presence of Dr. Didacus Jules who is attending COHSOD for the first time in his capacity as Director of the Caribbean Examination Council. Within the last 10 years, CXC has added several new subjects to its offerings, and has added CAPE to the list of its achievements.

In addition, the Caribbean Vocational Qualifications skills based certificate is a major accomplishment for the Region and for those trade persons whose skills are recognized. This facilitates their movement and employability within the CARICOM Single Market. It is significant also that the countries of this CARICOM Region, with a few exceptions, have achieved most of the targets in education set by the Millennium Development Goals, and in many cases have surpassed them.

These achievements, notwithstanding, much more needs to be done to accelerate the implementation agenda in education. Aiming for advancement in the area of ICT, language skills, science and technology, teacher training and retention of trained teachers; placing emphasis on increasing the number of students at the tertiary level, promoting research and development; attaining cutting edge research and development and establishing cultural industries to project and protect the creative talents of the Region, are all aspirations that themselves, engender the inspiration for taking our performance to a higher level. Therein lies our competitive edge.

Let therefore our discussions at this Seventeenth COHSOD stimulate thought and action toward the accelerated implementation of our education agenda.