As Secretary-General, it gives me a special pleasure to welcome you to the Headquarters country of the Caribbean Community and to the Thirtieth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, the Supreme Authority of the Community. In welcoming distinguished visiting Heads of Government and other delegates, I can attest to the generous hospitality that you will be receiving while in Guyana, the Secretariat Staff having been its appreciative beneficiaries over the life of our Community. I also take this opportunity to thank the Government and People of Guyana for the excellent arrangements that have been put in place for the conduct of this Meeting.

Permit me as I begin these remarks to extend congratulations to the Honourable Baldwin Spencer whose recent victory at the polls, secured on the very day of the Twentieth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference last March, ensured a second term of office for his party. Honourable Prime Minister your commitment to the integration process which was so amply displayed during your first term, will, I am sure only be surpassed by that of your second term. Congratulations again!

Heads of Government, distinguished delegates ladies and Gentlemen, we are at a juncture which calls for the most purposeful leadership of our Community. Aware as we all are of the outstanding qualities of His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of Guyana, I am confident that in our new Chairman the Community will continue to enjoy that quality of leadership.

In welcoming the new Chairman, I must also pay tribute to the dedicated and insightful leadership of the immediate past Chairman, the Honourable Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, for his dedicated and eloquent promotion of the interests of the Community. On all our behalf, I extend our most heartfelt appreciation for his outstanding service during his tenure.

As we commence this Thirtieth Meeting of the Conference, there is perhaps none of the previous twenty-nine which has been as celebrated as the Tenth, held at Grand Anse, Grenada in 1989. In the 20 years that have elapsed since then, the Community has been engaged, in large measure, in attempting to fulfil the lofty ambitions of the Agenda set by that Meeting in the Grand Anse Declaration and Work Programme for the Advancement of the Integration Process.

In setting the stage for the pursuit of that Work Programme, this is what the leaders stated in the preamble of that Declaration:

“We, the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community inspired by the spirit of cooperation and solidarity among us are moved by the need to work expeditiously together to deepen the integration process and strengthen the Caribbean Community in all of its dimensions to respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by the changes in the global economy.”

Mr. Chairman, Heads of Government, people of the Caribbean Community, that spirit of co-operation and solidarity, that need to work expeditiously together, that need to thereby deepen the integration process and strengthen the Caribbean Community in all its dimensions is today as urgent, if not more so, than it was at that time - 20 years ago!

The challenges that those visionary leaders confronted then and sought to overcome have, if anything, intensified. And though the world has changed significantly since then and the instruments they may have resorted to may need to be reviewed, and even changed, that objective of responding to the challenges together, and no less importantly, grasping the opportunities, has not.

Indeed though the current environment is marked by the most severe global economic and financial crisis of modern times, to quote the distinguished Prime Minister of Jamaica, “let us not waste a good crisis.” For waste we cannot afford.

In this regard, our Community Leaders and Representatives who attended the recent United Nations Conference on the Global Economic and Financial Crisis and Development led by the then Chairman, the Honourable Prime Minister of Belize, made clear the Region’s determination not to. Indeed, it was a pity on the occasion that the countries of the developed world were outstanding by the absence of their Leaders.

Distinguished Heads of Government, Ladies and Gentlemen the baton from our visionary predecessors of Grand Anse has been passed on to us and I know of no reason to believe that we are not capable of completing the race. And, history’s call on us is no less critical or less urgent.

In 1989 those leaders envisioned that their ideas and the fulfilment thereof would prepare our people adequately for the 21st century. It is now almost a decade within that century. The time for preparation is past and the moment of performance is here.

Over the next three days, I am confident that there will be ample opportunity for free and frank debate on the many issues confronting the Community, the outcome of which must lead to a reinvigoration of the integration process and to a renewal of the commitment to the building of a Community For All. To achieve that goal, the debate must lead to a rekindling of the spirit of hope and expectation among the people of the Community and thereby to their re-engagement in the construction of our Community. Such an outcome would also send a clear message to the world that a strengthened Caribbean Community is ready to take its place in the post-crisis global arena.

In closing, Mr. Chairman, Heads of Government, Ladies and Gentlemen, I must pay tribute to a Caribbean leader par excellence, the Most Honourable Percival J Patterson. Since I first had the privilege of meeting him, he has exemplified the best of all that is Caribbean. I have watched in awe sometimes as he not so much defended but vigorously pursued the interest of this Community on many stages. I will never forget the intellectual rigour and surgeon-like incision that he brought to the table during the negotiations for the ACP-EC Sugar Protocol between the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Community.

It was as skilful a performance as I have had the pleasure to witness and hopefully to have learnt from. Much more will be said later in this Opening Ceremony about this towering Caribbean icon but to me it is quite fitting that today, as we seek to renew our commitment to our Caribbean Community that this is the person whom we honour.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you.

CONTACT: piu@caricom.org