Rt. Hon Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community;
Other Distinguished Heads of State and Government of the Caribbean Community
Hon. Ministers
His Lordship the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Hon. Leader of the Opposition
Madam President of the Senate
Hon. Speaker of the House of Assembly
Other Members of the Senate and Parliament of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas
President and Members of the Bahamas Christian Council
Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps
His Excellency Donald McKinnon, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth
His Excellency, Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB)
Director-General, Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM)
Other Heads of Regional Institutions and Bodies
Director General of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States,
Deputy Secretary-General of the CARICOM Secretariat
Distinguished Delegates
Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat
Other Distinguished Guests
Representatives of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is for me, today, a special privilege and honour as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), to welcome you all to this Opening Ceremony of the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.

The hospitality extended to me over the last week has made me feel so much at home that perhaps I could be forgiven if I were also to extend my welcome to all coming to The Bahamas. But, Mr. Chairman, I resist the temptation and leave that to you.

Permit me, however, to extend to the Government and people of The Bahamas, our deep appreciation for their warm welcome and typical Bahamian hospitality and for the excellent arrangements provided for the series of CARICOM Meetings held here over the last week.

My privilege and honour in welcoming you all is only exceeded by my distinct pleasure in welcoming to the Conference of Heads of Government, two new Prime Ministers, the Hon David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados and the Honourable Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize. Though with somewhat different experience, these two Prime Ministers now join their colleagues to face the same Community Challenge, namely, to take our integration process to a higher level.

Their thoughts, perspectives and contribution to the Way Forward, are eagerly awaited, especially given the lead responsibilities they will be required to carry, given the critical areas of Community endeavours assigned to their two countries – Barbados, The CARICOM Single Market and Economy and Belize - Sustainable Development including the Environment. Welcome, Prime Ministers.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in welcoming these new Heads of Government, I would like, at the same time, to express the gratitude of the Community for the significant contribution to the integration movement made by their predecessors, the Rt. Honourable Owen Arthur and the Honourable Said Musa.

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Heads of Government, Ladies and Gentlemen, just about one year ago at this time, the people of the Caribbean Community had begun to be energised by the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007. The tournament itself may have received mixed reviews as regards our performance on the field of play, but the organisation of the event, including our cooperation in security and in relation to the movement of fans through the nine venue countries, received nothing but praise.

The Single Domestic Space, which made that possible, may be becoming a distant memory but during its life, the people of the Caribbean Community thoroughly appreciated and enjoyed the reality of hassle-free travel.

I have recalled that event particularly to highlight the fact that such success would not have been possible without the kind of unity of purpose and action that is required to maximise the Community benefits for its citizens. It is that unity of purpose and action that has been the foundation of our success in areas such as health, education, disaster management – in functional cooperation - and in some aspects of our foreign relations.

That unity is today just as necessary to surmount the serious threat of crime to the very fabric of our societies and to our hopes for a viable and prosperous Caribbean Community. But time is not on our side if we are to safeguard our Security. Time is not on our side if we are to achieve the goal of a Single Market and Economy in the timeframe that you, our Heads of Government have set. And time is not on our side if we are to achieve the “Community for All” as you our Heads have so hopefully scripted in your Declaration of Needham Point that you adopted last July in Barbados. All of this require our experienced Leaders, our new Leaders and all of us to put our shoulders to the wheel and redouble our efforts and to take our integration arrangements to a higher level. And time is not on our side.

Moreover, time is fast changing.

When Heads of Government met in July last, we were all dreading the prospect that the price of oil would soon reach US$100 a barrel. Today, we are hoping that it would soon get back to US$100 and less. In July, when we left Barbados we were filled with hope, locked in negotiations with the European Union for an Economic Partnership Agreement (EU-EPA). Today, we have before us, that Economic Partnership Agreement. We hope that the lessons learnt in that negotiation would strengthen us, as we move towards upcoming new negotiations. Time is changing fast and is not on our side.

Distinguished Heads of Government, in the face of this, your Ministers and Officials have been working feverishly this last week to grapple with some of the key issues on your Agenda today.

They have for example, examined and made recommendations on the operationalisation of the Regional Development Fund (RDF) and the Regional Development Agency (RDA). They have made proposals on how to alleviate the high and rising cost of living in the Member States of the Community. They have suggested a way forward regarding future external trade negotiations.

Mr Chairman, as you and your colleagues settle down to grapple with these and the many other difficult issues on your Agenda today and tomorrow, you can be buoyed by the seminal achievements of prior Meetings here in Nassau. We can recall, for example, the 1984 meeting that led to the Nassau Understanding on Structural Adjustment as well as to the 2001 Summit which adopted the Nassau Declaration on Health and its mantra, “the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region.”

Finally, Mr. Chairman, you can recall a statement made here at the July 1993 Regular Meeting of the Conference, namely,

It is thus timely for the Caribbean Community to take inventory, to re-evaluate our goals and to ensure that our respective structures, processes and perspectives are relevant and appropriate to our aspirations and to the realities of the international economic environment, which so profoundly affect our national economies and our individual well being.

Mr Chairman, that statement of yours is as relevant now, as it was then

AND TIME IS NOT ON OUR SIDE

I Thank You

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org