Mr. Chairman 
Mr. Gyandat Marray, President of the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association 
Mr. Muntaz Ali, President of the Regional Chambers of Commerce 
Mr. Kumkarran Ramdass, Regional Chairman of Region 8 
Executive Members of Chambers of Commerce 
Ms. Hyacinth James, Deputy Mayor of New Amsterdam 
Other Executive Members of BCCDA 
Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps 
Representative of the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce 
Other Members of the BCCDA 
Members of the Media 
Ladies and gentlemen

Before I begin my formal address, allow me to convey my condolences to the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association and to the family of Mr. Radial Bhookmohan, prominent Berbician businessman and past President of the Association.

It is truly a great pleasure to be with you today as you celebrate this important milestone in the life of this Organisation - the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association - and I am pleased that your Chamber has added a development dimension to its focus.

I am particularly pleased to see my old friend Norman Semple, your Public Relations Officer, who in my more youthful years at UWI in Mona Jamaica, with men like Albert Butters, John Davidson and others, drew me into what can only be called a Guyanese posse.

Norman, it's good to see you and to note that you're still contributing to the upliftment of your community. Ladies and gentlemen, when you invited me to be your guest speaker, you would not have known that Berbice holds a special place in my life. So let me let you into a little secret. My very first public address as a regional official - a CARIFTA official, that's before CARICOM - was here in Berbice in 1971. Let me also warn you that it was perhaps my worst such presentation. Have no fear, I have learnt a few things since.

Seventy-two years is indeed a very long time. For the Berbice Chamber of Commerce and Development Association to have withstood the test of time over more than seven decades, is testimony to the foresight, vision and hard work of the pioneering business leaders of New Amsterdam and this region; and indeed the resilience of succeeding generations of entrepreneurs of Berbice.

I am, therefore, delighted to have been invited to share this important anniversary event with you and honoured to have been entrusted with the pleasurable task of delivering the feature address.

First of all, I bring you greetings and best wishes from the CARICOM Secretariat. I know that a number of my staff hail from this region. This is an exciting time for doing business in the Caribbean Community. I am encouraged by the progress of, and prospects for, our integration movement, and after I have shared with you some of the developments and the benefits they present for businesspersons such as yourselves, I hope you will likewise be encouraged.

Let's get one fundamental issue straight. None of our countries can successfully go it alone in the current global environment, if it hopes to deliver to its people the quality of life to which they rightly aspire. None. It's a clear case of united we stand or divided we fall.

That being understood, there is also concern as to how we stand together; how we go forward, even with whom we go forward; how we share the benefits; and how we share the costs. But there can be no doubt in the mind of any right thinking person about the basic premise - United we stand and divided we fall.

We are on the cusp of a new era in the economic life of our CARICOM Region. As an Organisation representing businesses that span the gamut of commercial activities - financial services, retail trade, manufacturing, saw milling, furniture production, tourism and hospitality, catering, mining, professional services, telecommunications, among other areas - the BCCDA is well placed to play a major role in the economic revolution - (with a small "r") which is beginning to brighten our Caribbean economic landscape. What is this economic revolution of which I speak? It is the establishment and emergence of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy - the CSME. What is this mechanism or arrangement? Permit me to outline the main features thereof.

CARICOM, as you no doubt know, comprises the following Member States: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Monterrey, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. This is a grouping of fifteen countries with a population of 15 million. Guyana contributes some three-quarter million.

There are two elements of the CSME - the Single Market and the Single Economy. The Single Market is created by the removal of all restrictions - tariffs, quotas, foreign exchange controls, etc - on the free movement of goods, services, capital and skilled labour among CARICOM Member States. It also provides for the right of all CARICOM nationals to establish businesses in any Member State and be treated as a national of that Member State. These are the core features of the Single Market and they are expected to be in place by the end of 2005 - designated the Year of the CSME. Many, like the free movement of goods, are already in place.

The Single Economy involves the adoption by Member States, of coordinated and harmonized macro-economic policies and programmes for the production of internationally-competitive goods and services. This element is to come on stream in 2008, though there is no single point at which one can definitively say that you have achieved a single economy. The Single Economy will be guided by a comprehensive Regional Development Strategy, the basic outline of which is expected to be ready for adoption at the Inter-Sessional Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in Suriname in February 2005.

An essential component of the CSME is the creation of a Development Fund for the purpose of providing financial and/or technical assistance to disadvantaged countries, regions and sectors.

That is the broad framework of the single economic space which the CSME will represent. But some if not all of you will no doubt be saying in your minds - that's all well and good but will they implement it? - You know CARICOM! Moreover you may ask, what's in it for us here in Guyana and specifically, in Berbice?

First of all, implementation of the CSME will depend on all of us - our governments, our CARICOM Institutions, including my Secretariat, you the members of the Private Sector, the representatives of the Labour Movement and Civil Society at large. It is our joint responsibility and none of us can afford to shirk it. This is not a time or a game for finger pointing and shifting of responsibility or blame. It is a time for all to come on board and play their part. Specifically, you the Private Sector, are the engine of growth and therefore have a major role to play. Only last week Private Sector representatives from across the Region - including the CAIC, SAGICOR, RBTT and Grace Kennedy joined CARICOM Heads of Government at their Tenth Special Meeting in Port of Spain, to help chart the way forward.

Only two days ago, I participated in your Government's establishment of the Guyana Business and Labour Advisory Committee on the CSME. On that occasion I had cause to say the following:

"You the representatives of the Guyana Private Sector who have shown yourself capable of producing the world's best rum among other things, and you the representatives of a Labour Movement which gave leadership to the development of Trade Union values not only in Guyana but throughout the entire Caribbean region, both of you armed with Guyana's great fortune of natural endowment have a historic responsibility in developing the CSME. As the Headquarters of the Community no less is expected of you."

It is my deep hope that you, the Private Sector of Berbice will play your full part in Guyana's efforts to become CSME ready, as you will be among the prime beneficiaries.

In fact, you are already beneficiaries of the aspects of the CSME that are already in place. I refer in particular to the free movement of goods - specifically your exports of rice and sugar - intra and extra regionally.

The importance of the rice industry in Guyana, and particularly in Berbice, to employment, income, and standard of living cannot be overestimated. Much of these benefits flow from your access to the markets of CARICOM and/or CARICOM negotiated external markets, especially the European Union. The advancement towards the Single Market and Economy can only serve to protect and strengthen the position of this industry in an increasingly competitive global market place.

Already through the Community, efforts are being made to respond to the many challenges being faced by this crucial industry to Guyana. Through our cooperation with the European Union, the Industry in the Region is the beneficiary of a US$31 million support facility, with Guyana receiving approximately US$17 million of that amount to assist in drainage and irrigation, seed production, drying facilities, milling and processing, marketing and research.

On the marketing side, in my capacity as Secretary-General of CARIFORUM, I have commissioned a study to measure the impact of changes in EU policy on the sale of Caribbean rice in the EU. The results of this study will enable us to make more effective representation to the EU on market access, trade regimes, additional rice industry support programmes and especially how rice is to be treated in the context of our current Economic Partnership negotiations with the EU.

Looking at the news this morning, I see that it is anticipated that there will be an increase in rice prices in 2005 as China ceases to export and India reduces it exports.

Having spoken about rice, I cannot come to Berbice and be silent about sugar. Equally, I do not have to tell a Berbice audience how vital sugar is to Guyana's economy and society. It is not only the biggest earner of foreign exchange and the foremost generator of employment, it is also the dynamo which empowers so many other economic and community activities throughout rural Guyana.

And with the projected new factory at Skeldon and the sugar industry's plans for improvement, expansion and diversification, Berbice will now be the center for ensuring that the Guyana sugar industry continues to succeed and grow and make its essential contribution to the whole nation and indeed the CARICOM Region. A particular dimension of these developments is the expectation that as the Single Market and Economy matures, more and more of the Region's sugar will be produced in Guyana and I suspect, in Berbice.

In light of these developments, it is clear that Berbice has a vested interest in the Region's projected negotiations with the European Union as regards the terms for continued access of the Region's sugar exports to that market.

But Berbice is more than sugar and rice. Indeed, your Organisation's broad scope of activity reflects this. And there seems to be promise of even more as the search for oil onshore in Guyana, in Berbice, takes shape. Indeed, Guyana with its enormous natural resource endowment - largely untapped - is uniquely placed to play a decisive role in the future development of the CSME. Also the importance of its human resources in the development and management of the CSME must not be under-estimated. The development of the CSME is also certain to attract even greater human resources to Guyana.

However, the establishment of the Single Market and Economy is not going to be a problem free enterprise. Its effective operations will require a significant number of new Institutions to ensure an orderly development of the process. Of these, none is likely to be more important than the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). That Institution, when fully operational in both original and appellate jurisdictions, will not only have completed the process of independence of the Member States of the Community, but also launched them on to a new platform of self reliant development based on a Single Market and Economy. You will no doubt have seen the announcement in today's papers of the appointment of two Guyanese to serve as judges on the CCJ - Chancellor Desiree Bernard and Mr. Duke Pollard.

A complimentary mechanism under consideration as an important reflection of the Community's sovereignty, is the undertaking to move towards the adoption of a single Caribbean Community passport by all Member States. This passport will be a defining symbol of our regionalism and offer to our people a tangible demonstration of their identity as members of the Caribbean family. It is my firm hope that this will become a reality in short order.

So, with these initiatives well underway, all that will remain now will be for Berbice to provide the West Indies Cricket Team with a new Rohan Kanhai, Joe Solomon, Basil Butcher and Alvin Kallicharran!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to thank you for giving me and the members of my staff who have accompanied me, the pleasure of sharing this auspicious occasion of your Seventy-second Annual Luncheon with you. Allow us in turn to extend to you, the BCCDA and your families, the very best wishes for a blessed Christmas and a happy and prosperous CSME New Year.