It is a special pleasure for me as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to be afforded the opportunity to welcome you all to the Twenty-Fourth Special Meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).

Some of you are new to this Organ of the Caribbean Community and to you I extend a very special welcome. To you, Mr. Chairman, someone with whom I’ve had the great pleasure of being together in another place, I extend a most heartfelt fraternal welcome.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Government of the Bahamas for graciously agreeing to host this Twenty-Fourth Special Meeting of the COTED, and indeed for hosting the other Preparatory Ministerial Meeting which will precede the Nineteenth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. We thank you and the Bahamian people for welcoming us to your shores with the warmth and friendliness that is an unforgettable characteristic of Bahamian hospitality.

Honourable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, the relatively short agenda for this Meeting of the Council is by no means reflective of the importance of the issues to be addressed. In fact, two critical issues, POVERTY AND THE RISING COST OF LIVING and THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CARIFORUM-EC ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA) have generated great interest across the Community. These issues, Ministers, have not been easy of resolution at the level of Senior Officials but they require firm and decisive action. Others, especially those relating to the request for derogation to import flour into the Less Developed Countires (LDCs) from the More Developed Countries (MDCs) or extra-regional resources and the prioritizing, scheduling and approach to future bilateral trade negotiations are no less problematic, but all require clean and firm decision.

Ministers will note, that at the Twelfth Special Meeting of Heads of Government held in Guyana on 7 December 2007, the Heads decided “to establish a Technical team which will review a set of commodities which have a significant weight in the Consumer Price Index, are not produced nor have a close substitute in the Region and which attract a CET.” In this regard, Member States were requested to provide their views on the items they believed could form a common list for which the CET could be suspended.

The Secretariat subsequently engaged the services of the firm - Kairi Consultants Limited - and a technical report entitled ‘The Escalating Cost of Living and Poverty in the Caribbean’ was prepared. This was presented to the Meeting of the Technical Team on the Rising Cost of Living on 21 January 2008. The Technical Team, after indepth discussions, recommended to the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the COTED, held in Georgetown, Guyana on 24 and 25 January 2008, a list of products on which it determined that there was consensus that the CET be suspended. That list did not receive approval.

Mr. Chairman, the process leading up to agreement and approval on such a list has been very difficult, as it sought to strike a delicate balance between bringing much needed relief to those most affected, while at the same time, not jeopardising Government revenue and affecting the producer interest and capacity of Member States.

Today, we are charged with completing that complex but worthy exercise and I urge all of you Ministers, to consider very carefully, the consequences of our not coming to an agreement, as this would no doubt be to the detriment of those who are most vulnerable and not respond to the undertaking of our Heads. The Council is asked to review the lists of products submitted by Member States for consideration for suspension of the CET, in keeping with the criteria established by the Conference; and having so considered, approve a set of commodities on which the CET would be suspended. The urgency of the task at hand will not brook failure or postponement on this occasion.

The Review of CARICOM’s preparation for, approach to and conduct of future external trade negotiations has assumed added significance with the completion of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations. Ministers will recall that the Twenty-Fourth Meeting of the COTED, which took place in Guyana on 13-15 November 2007, in considering matters related to the Community’s conduct of External Trade Negotiations in various theatres, mandated an independent and thorough review of the process involved in conducting the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations to facilitate and guide this Council’s determination of the priority and schedule which should lead the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), the CARICOM Secretariat and other institutions and Member States Officials in respect of external trade negotiations and indeed of existing trade agreements. That mandate was reiterated by the Twenty-Fifth Meeting of the COTED.

As you know, today’s meeting comes on the heels of a meeting of the CARICOM Reflections Group which considered a Report by a Group of Consultants who conducted an independent review of the Region’s experience in undertaking external trade negotiations, in particular in relation to the recently concluded negotiations for an EPA with the European Community. The meeting of the Reflections Group comprised senior officials of Member States who had participated in the EPA Negotiations, the CARICOM and OECS Secretariats, the CRNM as well as representatives of sectoral groups and other stakeholders. That meeting has made recommendations to this Meeting of the COTED which is expected to establish clear priorities and map the way forward.

Ministers, Senior Officials, other Government Representatives, Special Invited Guests, I am aware that Senior Officials worked well into the night on the matters underlined above and I would wish that maximum time be given to consider the matters before us today. With these few words, and with the approval of our Chairman, Minister Baugh of Jamaica, I suggest that we delve straight into the proceedings of this Meeting following the welcome by Honourable Minister Laing of the Bahamas and remarks by the Chair himself. I look forward to a very successful meeting with concrete results.

I thank you.