Mr. Chairman - the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of The Bahamas
Other Honourable Ministers
Their Excellencies Ambassadors to the Caribbean Community
Deputy Secretary-General and other members of the Executive Management of the CARICOM Secretariat
Distinguished Delegates
Representatives of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, (CARICOM) may I welcome you to this the Twenty-Second Meeting of the Community Council of Ministers, the second highest Organ of the Community.

I must take this opportunity to extend a special welcome to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana, the Honourable Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, to her first meeting of the Community Council. Minister, we welcome you to this esteemed Organ of our Community and look forward to your unique contribution to the vital work which falls to this body. It is all the more fitting that this, your first meeting of the Community Council is taking place in your home country. For me, your presence around this table gives further evidence that the torch of regional leadership is being passed on to another generation as we celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Caribbean Community. Welcome!

Honourable Ministers a short while ago we all witnessed the opening of another major event on the CARICOM calendar, an event that indicated clearly that this Community is prepared to meet head on and overcome the critical challenges that confront us. The CARICOM Regional Agriculture Investment Forum provides this Community Council with a first hand opportunity to witness the efforts of the Community to respond to one such challenge, as the Community seeks to put in place the foundation for addressing its food security issues.

Given the functions of this Council as set out in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, to the effect that: “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,” the Forum provides an apt demonstration of the kind of strategic planning in the area of economic integration for which this Council has primary responsibility as indicated above.

At this Meeting today, the Council will be called upon to perform one of its most important functions – that is to “function as a preparatory body for Meetings of the Conference.” It is in the discharge of this function that it is being invited to review the Provisional Agenda submitted by the Secretariat, for the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government and prepare a Draft Agenda. It is this Council, therefore, which in large measure determines the issues which the Supreme Organ will consider when it meets. When you rise Honourable Ministers, you must also be satisfied that the arrangements for the hosting of that Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda on 1-4 July 2008, are in order.

A key function of this Council relates to proposals emanating from other Community Organs and Bodies. You have the responsibility to review and approve the programmes of the Community on the basis of those proposals. This includes the mobilisation and allocation of resources and such measures as may be required to enhance and promote the implementation process as well as the monitoring and evaluation.

In that regard, today your Meeting will grapple with issues which engaged the attention of the Councils and Bodies since this Organ last met in its Twenty-First Session in February 2008. These include the very important issue of Climate Change and its effects which have even greater resonance with the recent advent of the hurricane season already marked by floods in Belize which regrettably claimed one life. On behalf of the Community, I extend sympathy to the Government and people of Belize and particularly to the family of the deceased. We also extend condolences to their neighbours in Central America who suffered similar loss.

The Council will also be called upon to review the legal instruments required to give effect to several decisions of the Conference of Heads of Government taken at their recent Special Session on Crime and Security. These relate to Aviation Safety, Security Oversight, Disaster and Emergency Management, Maritime and Airspace Security Co-operation among others.

The Council will also receive updates on the preparations for CARIFESTA X to be held in Guyana in August 2008, the Conference on the Caribbean to be held in New York later this month, the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting both to be held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009. Proposals for advancing the Community’s agenda with respect to Children and Non-Communicable Diseases will also be before you for consideration.

Matters relative to the operation of this Council including the proposal for the establishment of the Bureau of the Community Council are among issues for your consideration. This is one of the recommendations arising out of the Retreat of the Community Council of Ministers held in October 2004, in Barbados.

Honourable Ministers a review of Article 13 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguramas will no doubt bring home to you the central role and weighty responsibility of this Council in the development of our Caribbean Community. It behoves you therefore to find time to give serious consideration to an evaluation of the manner in which this Council discharges these responsibilities. For it may be more than fair to say that as the Community Council goes so does the Community.

In closing, I wish this Council all success in its deliberations under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas the Honourable Brent Symonnette.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org