Mr. Chairman Honourable Ministers Distinguished Delegates Representatives of the University of the West Indies and Students of the Institute of International Relations Staff of the Secretariat Members of the Media Ladies and Gentlemen

It is once again my privilege and pleasure as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community to welcome you all with a few brief remarks to a meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development.

In welcoming you I also extend a hearty welcome to our host Minister, the Honourable Henry Jeffrey who is making his debut, in a manner of speaking, at meetings of this Council. The Minister is no stranger to our Councils having been previously a valued member of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) and we look forward to the perspectives that he will bring to this organ of the Community.

I am equally delighted to welcome the Honourable Chief Minister of Montserrat who, as a head of Government is also responsible for trade matters, and is attending this Meeting for the first time.

Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen, this Twenty-Second Meeting of the Council is in a special way an historic one, as it is the first regular meeting of the Council since the 12-member CARICOM Single Market has come into being. That milestone, achieved in July 2006 was due in no small measure to the dedicated work of this Council in its many manifestations. Today, therefore, I congratulate you on your contribution to that success.

It is a success that has been well-recognised and heartily welcomed by our friends, partners and the international community at large. It is an achievement of which we should be justly proud as we are only the second grouping of countries after the European Union and therefore the first among the countries of the developing world known to have taken the integration process this far.

But we cannot afford to rest here. We must move on to the next necessary step, that is, to put in place the Single Economy, thereby completing the process of establishing a more competitive Caribbean Regional economy.

In this process, we must take the requisite actions, be they legal, administrative, technical or otherwise to give effect to this newly created single economic space. The opportunities it provides go beyond those of the Common Market for free movement of goods among our Member States protected by a Common External Tariff. They provide for the free movement of the very labour, capital and services and the freedom for anyone to invest across the Community as is to be expected in any single economic space. Also, central to the process, is the need to harmonise policies with respect to investment, capital market integration, interest rates, currency convertibility and exchange rates, corporate structures, taxation and the like with special emphasis on the requirements of the Lesser Developed Countries.

Properly managed, the process, teething problems notwithstanding, can significantly enhance the Regions’ economic competitiveness and provide major benefits – income and jobs - for its peoples. Make no mistake, there are and will always be challenges in the pursuit of these objectives. But this, I am convinced, is the Region’s best chance - perhaps only chance - of coping adequately with the inexorable process of globalisation.

In all of this no action is more vital than the need to inform and educate the population on what the Single Market and Economy is and what it is not; what benefits it confers; what responsibilities it demands and how to exploit the opportunities it provides. To be sure in the coming months, the population will guide us as to how the Single Market is functioning. For example, they will let us know what happens whether, despite being eligible for free movement, they encounter hurdles when they travel to some Member States. Whether their rights are observed when skill certificates are presented at Immigration Points of Entry? Whether the procedures are any less onerous than before the Single Market?

Businesses will undoubtedly let us know if they have been able to expand opportunities because of the expanded market for services in addition to goods. Whether they have been able to take advantage of the ability to have wider sources of inputs for production – Skills, raw materials or intermediate goods, services, financing? Have there been more job opportunities or prospects particularly for the new job entrants? From all these we will receive a reaction and we must be prepared to respond.

This is the backdrop against which your work as the Council for Trade and Economic Development must be seen, central as it is to the various elements of the Single Market and the Single Economy. This centrality is exemplified by the responsibility entrusted to your Council in relation to one of the critical elements of the Single Market and Economy – the CARICOM Development Fund. This financial facility enjoys a vital place economically and politically in the process of the establishment and operation of the Single Market and Economy as it was a virtual sine qua non for the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to sign on to the Single Market process.

In this regard the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas assigns to COTED, via Article 157 the following: “COTED shall evaluate the need for technical and financial assistance to disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors, and promote and facilitate appropriate programmes and projects.” This is in the context of the Fund being established “for the purpose of providing financial or technical assistance to disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors.” It falls to your Council, therefore, to ensure that the Fund is established and utilised optimally for the benefit of the Community.

While the construction of the Single Market and Economy is undoubtedly the flagship of the Community, and in that process this Council plays a critical role, your Council is also charged with managing the day to day operations of the basic bread and butter - or should we say rice and beans - trade and economic issues required by regional production and trade - intra-regional as well as external.

In this latter regard, we need to ensure greater synergy between our drive towards a single market and economy – that is our internal policy – and our external trade negotiations. Further more, we need to continue to intensify our technical and diplomatic work and solidify our unity in regard to our external trade and negotiations matters.

Today you will find your agenda encompassing customary issues on intra regional trade in goods, adjustments to the Common External Tariff, and review of the rules of origin. But Trade cannot take place without transportation nor can the issue of standards be ignored if trade is to flourish. These too find their way on your agenda. Yesterday in this very room at a Special meeting your colleague Ministers dealt with the issue of Transport in the context of the fast approaching Cricket World Cup 2007.

And in all of these activities, it must be recognised that the development we seek must be sustainable and to no one’s surprise that issue is also on your agenda.

You will recall that I stated at the beginning of these brief remarks that the meeting was an historic one. One element in that regard is the following. For the first time in its history a Member State, the Commonwealth of Dominica has conferred on the Community an award – its highest – the Dominica Award of Honour for the Community’s contribution to its economic recovery over the recent period of its economic downturn. I had the distinction of receiving that award on behalf of the Community on the occasion of its 28th Anniversary of Independence on 3 November. The ceremony was proudly witnessed by the Chairman of the Community the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas.

Congratulations are in order for one of the Community’s most famous sons, Mr. Asafa Powell of Jamaica who was recently selected as the Male Athlete of the Year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for his world-beating performances in 2006. A Jamaican-born athlete, Ms. Sanya Richards was the winner of the Female Athlete of the Year awarded by the IAAF, which is the governing body for world athletics, giving the Community even more cause for celebration and demonstrating clearly our capacity for world class performance.

Mr. Chairman, it is clear that not only is the work of your Council crucial to the entire development process of the Community, its burden is correspondingly heavy and the agenda today reflects this. In realisation of this I therefore conclude these brief comments with best wishes for a successful and productive meeting.

I thank you.