Press release101/2001
(23 July 2001)

Honourable Prime Minister;
Former President and Leader of the Opposition;
Speaker of the National Assembly;
Honourable Ministers;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
His Excellency Ellsworth John, Ambassador of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the United States of America and a special guest for our function this evening;
Distinguished Guests;
Staff of the Secretariat;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you here this evening to celebrate the Twenty-Eighth Anniversary of the establishment of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM). We are indeed honoured that you have found it possible to join us this evening. Janus-like, we look to our past achievements while we keep a careful eye on the challenges and opportunities facing us today.

This, our first anniversary in this new millennium, finds the Community in a global environment much different from that which existed at the inception of our regional integration movement and that envisaged by the founding fathers: one in which our very survival and our viability demand collaborative and coherent action.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, the bold reality is that CARICOM is confronted by a number of social, political and economic challenges which severely tax the minds and resources of the Governments and peoples of our small, vulnerable economies. Through it all, however, we are making some progress.

The foundation for the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy has now been laid. That progress is reflected in:

• the completion and signing of the Nine Protocols amending the Treaty establishing the Community. Those Protocols have now been amalgamated into the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and this was signed by a number of Heads of Government in Nassau earlier this month;

• the signing of the Agreement establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) last February at the Twelfth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the CARICOM Heads of Government ; and

• the finalisation of the Agreement establishing the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), which should be in operation by the end of this year.

Further, the Inaugural Meeting of the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on the CSME took place in The Bahamas on 9 July. Its work will be supported by a Committee of Officials, a Technical Advisory Committee, including representation from Civil Society, and a technical specialised CSME Unit. The Government of Barbados has generously offered to provide accommodation for this vital Unit until the Secretariat's Headquarters is completed here in Guyana.

In this regard, I would like to record my appreciation to His Excellency the President of Guyana for his commitment to the construction of our Headquarters Building, as was manifested in his undertaking to his Colleague Heads of Government in Nassau earlier this month. We look forward to the construction being well underway by the time our next Inter-Sessional Meeting is convened in Belize in February next year.

The Staff of the Secretariat and I myself earnestly look forward to being together in one Permanent Headquarters Building.

The future also seems set to change in other fundamental ways. CARICOM has also continued its engagement with Haiti and, in its efforts to ensure the smooth integration of that country into our Caribbean Community, officially opened the CARICOM Office in Haiti last Thursday, 12July, in Port-au-Prince. And underlining its commitment to justice and good governance, the Community now regularly sends Observer Missions to national elections, as was done in the recent cases of Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Haiti.

The strength of CARICOM and the belief in a viable Caribbean Community is evidenced by the fact that The Bahamas, long a Member of the Community, but not of the Common Market, has now indicated that it is going to move ever more closer towards joining the Single Market and Economy. Also, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, at the last meeting of the Conference in The Bahamas, have expressed interest in becoming Associate Members of CARICOM. In fact, our Heads of Government welcomed the Premier of Bermuda and the Deputy Leader of Government of the Cayman Islands to their Twenty-Second Meeting earlier this month as Observers to the entire Meeting. It was an unprecedented act of regional solidarity.

At the same time, the Region, through its Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) has ensured that its interests are recognised and its concerns advanced in negotiations in the hemisphere and in multilateral fora.

The coordinated regional efforts have been bearing fruit, as can be seen from the new African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Partnership Agreement, as can also be seen in the modification by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation in Development (OECD) of the Harmful Tax Initiative, as well as in the inclusion of a Small States Forum on the agenda of Annual World Bank meetings and finally, in the proposed Commonwealth Summit on Small States, to be convened in London in July 2002.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, as we deepen and widen our integration movement and seek to secure a viable future for our people in this new globalised world, our Community, however, is confronting internal threats to the very fabric of our society. These threats include the devastating effect of HIV/AIDS on our population; the impact of drug abuse and narco-trafficking with the concomitant increase in violent crime, the illicit traffic in weapons and money-laundering.

In addition to their direct destruction of the quality of life of our population, they also strain the limited human and financial resources of our small economies. As a result, a Special Regional Task Force is to be set up, on the instruction of CARICOM Heads of Government, to analyse the causes of crime and security threats in the Region and to make recommendations for addressing them.

With the Region ranking second to sub-Sahara Africa in the incidence of HIV/AIDS, a major step has been taken to combat this pandemic, which has particularly affected the Region's youth - those on whom our future rests. With support from UNAIDS, Pan-American Health Organisation /World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) and other members of the donor community, including Canada and the United States of America the Pan-Caribbean Partnership has not only been launched, it has been supported . The Nassau Declaration on Health 2001: The Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region, which was issued at the recently-concluded Twenty-Second Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government, in The Bahamas on 3-6 July, sets out the commitment of our political Leaders to "fight back" against this devastating tide.

We are grateful to the Government of Canada for its provision of Cdn$20 Million in support of the Region's efforts to combat HIV/AIDS. We are also grateful to the US Administration for its indication of its intention to contribute a similar sum. But, it was the EU's contribution of US$6

Million which initiated the process on which we have now embarked, and we look forward to the promised support from the Government of Japan.

Also at the recent Heads of Government Meeting, His Excellency the President of Mexico offered cooperation and technical assistance in this regard.

For all this assistance we have expressed our gratitude to the international donor community but no amount of generosity and assistance by donors would be enough, however, if we, especially our young people, do not play our part. I can do no more than call on all of us - but especially our young people - to heed the warnings and for us all to realise that indeed the Health of the Region is the Wealth of the Region.

Cognisant of the imperative of all sectors of society playing a meaningful role in the growth and development of our Region, CARICOM Heads will meet with representatives of civil society by November of this year, to chart the way forward for CARICOM at the Civil Society Conference, which is being convened under the theme, Forward Together.

National consultations in this regard are already underway. In keeping with the commitment to a multi-sectoral approach to our Region's development, preparations are also continuing for the Regional Summit on Tourism, to be held in The Bahamas in October, with inputs from all the stake-holders.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have outlined these issues to demonstrate the complexity of the environment in which our Community must operate and the multiplicity of tasks which we must accomplish.

They underline the critical importance of the involvement of all our peoples in the growth and development of our Region. It is for that reason that Heads of Government invited me, and I have agreed to accept, their invitation, to continue to undertake the responsibilities of Secretary -General for another term. But to do so successfully, I would need all your support.

The words of the late Michael Manley, former Prime Minister of Jamaica and one of the signatories of the Treaty establishing our Community, ring as true today as they did over twenty-eight years ago. He said: . . . we look forward to a wider future in which there are enormous possibilities that must not be seen as restricted in the run of history to those that speak English alone, but rather a future that I think is there for those who share the occupation of a region and a joint commitment to human progress. ...We must seek our strength in our unity and then we must dedicate that strength to the building of a new life of opportunity and security for our people.

That remains our commitment. That remains our goal. That remains MY goal!!

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I now invite you to raise your glasses in a toast to the Honourable Prime Minister, the Government and the People of Guyana for their continuing commitment to the development of a viable Caribbean Community.

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