Honourable Brent Symonette, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas and Chairman of the Community Council of Ministers
Honourable Christopher Sinckler, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Business of Barbados
Other Honourable Ministers
Distinguished Delegates
Deputy Secretary-General and Staff of the CARICOM Secretariat
Representative of the OECS Secretariat
Representatives of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), I welcome you all to this the Twenty-First Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers – the second highest decision-making body, and one of the two Principal Organs of the Community, the other being of course, the Conference of Heads of Government.

At the outset, I must thank the Government and people of Barbados for facilitating our presence here today and at such short notice.

Honourable Ministers, permit me to extend a special welcome to the new Ministers to this Council. I begin with our host Minister, the Honourable Christopher Sinckler. Minister Sinckler is no stranger to regional affairs, having been a key voice in the Regional Civil Society Movement. That experience will certainly serve him, and this Council, in good stead.

I must also convey sincere appreciation to Minister Sinckler’s predecessor, Dame Billie Miller, for her sterling contribution to the deliberations of this Council over the past several years.

I also extend a very warm welcome to our Chairman, Hon. Brent Symonette, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas, who is also attending his first meeting of the Community Council. And what better place to start than at the top! I feel confident that his skills, honed and developed in the legal and business arenas, have ably equipped him to guide our deliberations.

This Meeting also marks the first for a number of other Ministers: the Honourable Renald Jean Clerisme, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Haiti; Senator the Honourable Guy Mayers, Minister of Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs of Saint Lucia and the Honourable Paula Gopie-Scoon, Minister of External Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Council welcomes you all and looks forward to benefiting from the new and particular insights which you will bring to its deliberations.

Mr. Chairman, Honourable Ministers, today’s Meeting is set against the backdrop of a Community which is undergoing significant democratic changes to the composition of its political leadership. Apart from the elections which have led to the changes reflected in our Council today, yesterday brought its own share with the change of government in another Member State - Belize. The Community stands ready to welcome its new representatives and to benefit from their unique contribution to its development. This recent democratic wind, or should I say gale, of change which has virtually swept through our Region, is one of the valuable attributes of our Region of which we can be justly proud and must as a Community strive to maintain.

In this and other ways our Community is continuously required to make itself relevant to the lives of its citizens. Your Agenda today reflects that concern, including as it does a wide range of issues, such as the rising cost of living in Member States; expanding the categories of skilled community nationals eligible for Free Movement; review of the work of the Caribbean Commission on Youth and Development; implementation of the Declaration of Port of Spain - Uniting to Stop the Epidemic of Non-communicable Diseases - and the CARIFORUM-EC Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).

All these issues require of the Community decision-makers, the most profound consideration in determining the best course of action in the interest of improving the quality of life of our citizens.

As the second highest decision-making body - one which has the “primary responsibility for the development of Community strategic planning and coordination” across the key areas of Community activity – this Council has a major, indeed a determining influence on the development of our entire Community.

Its unique function requires it to operate in three specific ways: first, as a Principal Organ, it is required to ensure that matters falling to the responsibility of the Organs and Bodies of the Community, are suitably addressed by those particular Organs and Bodies and are not remitted to the Principal Organs for determination. Secondly, the Community Council must ensure that the matters for which fall to its own responsibility are appropriately addressed by this Council.

Finally, the Community Council also functions as the preparatory body for meetings of the Conference – the Supreme Organ of the Community. It is evident therefore that the scope of the responsibility of the Community Council is particularly wide. Indeed, it can be said that without a well-functioning Community Council there can be no well-functioning Community.

One of the key responsibilities that specifically falls to the Community Council, and is on your agenda today, is the consideration and approval of the Work Programme and Budget of the CARICOM Secretariat for 2008. Of course as head of the Secretariat, I consider it a most important element of your agenda!

On a more serious note, I need not emphasise to you, Honourable Ministers, the critical role of the Secretariat as the executive mechanism for the discharge of the mandates emanating from all the Organs and Bodies of the Community,

The budget before you today, is the result of consideration by the Budget Committee of the Community - a body comprising Senior Finance and other Officials of Member States.

I wish publicly to commend them for their professional work, even though I must admit, I was hoping for a bit more generosity on their part. In thanking them all, my special thanks must go to the Chairman of the Committee, Mr. Bentley Gibbs, Permanent Secretary, now in the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry of Barbados. I welcome the new and refreshing vision he brought to the deliberations of the Committee.

Honourable Ministers, your Agenda today is long and substantial. I am confident, however, that under the leadership of our distinguished Chairman, you will discharge your mandate effectively.

In so doing, you will be responding to the needs of a Community that is on the threshold of a new era, one which requires all of us to redouble our efforts in building not only a Single Market and Economy, but a Community for All.

I thank you.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org