Mr, Chairman, the Hon Sir Louis Straker, Minister of Foreign Affairs of St Vincent and the Grenadines
Other Honourable Ministers
Your Excellencies Ambassadors to the Caribbean Community
Distinguished Delegates
Deputy Secretary-General and Staff of the Secretariat
Ladies and Gentlemen
Members of the media

May I, as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) extend a hearty welcome to you all to this the 19th Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers. I also take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and productive 2007.

I bid a special welcome to three new members of this Council, the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana, the Honourable Manzoor Nadir; the Minister of External Affairs, International Financial Services and Broadcasting of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Rufus Bousquet; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, Senator Arnold Piggott. The Council and the Community look forward to their insights as we seek to grapple with the challenges posed as we move forward. I also wish to extend to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana, the Honourable Rudolph Insanally best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the cusp of an exciting era in the history of the Caribbean Community. In the last twelve months the Single Market has come to fruition; Haiti has re-entered the Councils of the Community; agreement has been reached on the CARICOM Development Fund; a Single Domestic Space has been created among 10 member states to facilitate movement of people for the Cricket World Cup; two more of our Member States have joined their colleagues in issuing CARICOM passports and one of the prime areas for discussion in your agenda is the completed report of the Technical Working Group on Governance and the recommendations arising there from. And all this has taken place even as we are working assiduously to establish the policy framework for the Single Economy by 2008.

Today’s meeting comes on the heels of a round of engagements this week including the Forum on the Ninth Meeting of CARICOM officials on the Free Movement of Persons, and the presentation of credentials by envoys of Japan and Belize to the CARICOM and just yesterday the conclusion of the 10th Meeting of the Budget Committee, the deliberations of which are before you for decision.

As the second highest of the two Principal Organs of the Community, your role and functions are set out under Article 13 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. Among other things, and I quote: “The Community Council shall, in accordance with the policy directions established by the Conference, have primary responsibility for the development of Community strategic planning and co-ordination in the areas of economic integration, functional co-operation and external relations. .. approve the programmes of the Community on the basis, inter alia, of proposals emanating from other Community Organs ... and have responsibility for promoting and monitoring the implementation of Community decisions in the Member States."

Those responsibilities must be borne in mind, as you embark on your discussion, soon to take place, on the report of the Technical Working Group on Governance. That group, led by Professor Vaughan Lewis, had been mandated by the Conference of Heads of Government to present the options for implementing the recommendations of the Prime Ministerial Expert Group which had examined the Rose Hall Declaration on Regional Governance adopted by the Conference in July 2003. Professor Lewis could not be here with us today.  However Professor Dennis Benn, the Vice-Chairman of the Group, is here and will present the report.

Professor Lewis’ Group had been asked by the Heads of Government to pay particular attention to the establishment and functioning of a Commission, the Automaticity of Financing of the new governance arrangements arising out of the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and to the role and functions of the Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians.

The Working Group's report is of particular importance to this Council since the core of its recommendations go to the heart of one of the key areas of responsibility outlined above, that is, promoting and monitoring the implementation of Community decisions. I look forward to an incisive and vigorous debate on the recommendations of this Group, since that would serve to enlighten us at the Secretariat, given that the recommendations also impinge on our role and functions.

In fulfilling its mandate on the development and coordination of external relations, this forum must give urgent consideration to the latest proposals submitted by the Caucus of Ambassadors in Washington D.C, USA with regard to the upcoming Conference, on the Caribbean scheduled for that city in June under the theme `A 2020 Vision’. Your discussion is most timely given that there is a planning meeting next week in Washington with key institutional partners, to develop a plan for the implementation of the each of the main elements of the Conference. Your guidance will therefore be most welcome to this process.

Among your other agenda items, I am tempted to say that none is more critical than the approval of the Budget for the CARICOM Secretariat. The report of the Budget Committee is before you and the Secretariat looks forward to your decision on this matter. Suffice it to say that the Secretariat extends its appreciation to the Budget Committee for its comprehensive review, examination and finally, general endorsement of the Secretariat’s proposals regarding both the Work Programme and Budget for the year 2007.

Mr. Chairman, Ministers, Delegates also before you for your consideration and of critical importance, are the arrangements for the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, scheduled for February 12-14 in St Vincent and the Grenadines. It is your statutory task, as the preparatory body for the meetings of the Conference, to examine and recommend suitable arrangements, including the draft agenda.

Mr. Chairman, there is, therefore, a lot before you at this meeting. I am confident, however, that when you rise this evening (or night!) the work of the Community would have been significantly advanced, thanks to your efforts today.