Hon. Kerrie Symmonds, CARICOM Chairman of this Meeting of the Seventh CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission,
Hon. Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, Minister of Government, Cuba,
Other Honourable Ministers of Member States of the Caribbean Community and of Cuba,
Mrs Yvonne Gittens-Joseph, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago,
Distinguished Delegates,
Members of the Media,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good morning and welcome to the Seventh CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission Meeting. It is with gratitude that I, on behalf of the Community express our thanks and appreciation to the Government and People of Trinidad and Tobago for hosting this important meeting.

This meeting is taking place in the context of two inter-related phenomenal objectives. The first is the deepening of the integration of CARICOM from a Community and Common Market into a Community including a Single Market and Economy in this year 2005 - the declared year of the CARICOM Single Market. The second is the recognition of the need and the commitment to pursue the acceleration of the process of integration in the Greater Caribbean with the aim of increasing the international competitiveness and spurring the development of the entire Region.

This meeting, itself a further demonstration of the strengthening of the relations and cooperative ties between CARICOM and Cuba, and representing a discussion among members of one Caribbean family is an important contribution towards the meeting of the second objective.

The signing of the Agreement establishing the CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission in December 1993 - a task which I had the historic honor and pleasure of sharing with the Hon. Minister Cabrisas, Leader of the Cuban delegation here today - has provided the basic formal framework for our relations and for the various cooperation agreements between the Member States of CARICOM and Cuba.

It is ample testimony to the strengths of those relations so much so that despite the Joint Commission having not met over the past five years, this has not prevented ongoing cooperation and the deepening of relations between the CARICOM and Cuba during this period. The record has nonetheless been a proud one.

One of the major milestones in our relationship over those five years came in December 2002, when CARICOM Heads of Government journeyed to Havana to join their counterpart to mark, in a fitting manner, the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between four CARICOM Member States and the Republic of Cuba in December 1972.

The Havana Declaration which was signed on that December 2002 occasion by the Heads of Government of CARICOM countries and Cuba acknowledged that the 1972 decision taken by Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, "represented an historic breakthrough which encouraged the reinsertion of the Republic of Cuba into hemispheric diplomatic relations and constituted an affirmation that Cuba is an integral part of the Caribbean family."

The first CARICOM-Cuba meeting at Ministerial level - a direct mandate of the Havana Declaration - took place in Havana in July last year involving Ministers of Foreign Affairs. And last December, I had the honour of accompanying two CARICOM Ministers to Havana in response to the invitation from the Cuban Government to mark CARICOM Day, December 8, the anniversary of the commencement of CARICOM-Cuba diplomatic relations.

In keeping with the commitments which they undertook in December 2002, the next meeting of Heads of State and Government of Cuba and CARICOM countries is scheduled to be held in Barbados in 2005.

The CARICOM-Cuba relationship has not only been conducted at the political level. Critically, the Government of Cuba has continued its assistance to Member States of the Region through the assignment of medical and other health care personnel. It has maintained an important corps of medical personnel in Haiti which was able to lend much assistance to the people of that country when most needed in the aftermath of the floods which devastated Haiti on two occasions during 2004. Cuban medical personnel are also playing an important role in addressing post-flood health issues in Guyana.

Indeed over the last six (6) months the devastation wrought throughout the Region by natural disasters should have served to bring home to one and all, the interdependence of our Region, indeed our hemisphere, and thus the futility of much of the hostility needlessly extended by neighbour-to-neighbour.

Also, in the field of health, which in the words of our Heads of Government, in the Nassau Declaration, is the true wealth of our Region, Cuba's original offer which CARICOM Heads of Government accepted with appreciation "to provide the necessary expertise for the establishment in a Member State of CARICOM, of a technical teaching centre for nursing and other medical specialties with a capacity to train up to 200 professionals from all CARICOM States with particular competence with regard to HIV/AIDS", regrettably remains unexploited, especially in a Region with the unenviable distinction of having the second highest incident of HIV/AIDS after Sub Sahara Africa .

Our CARICOM students - in increasing numbers - continue to benefit from the scholarships offered by the Government and People of Cuba in an increasing number of fields of study. This is contributing significantly to the development of the human resources as well as the technical and professional capacity of the Community.

Cuba's participation in the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery and as an observer in CARIFORUM remains an important expression on Cuba's part, and an acceptance by CARICOM, that this kind of collaboration is vital for achieving the economic objectives of our nations.

In the area of sustainable development, another important collaborative effort has developed involving CARICOM and Cuba. This was witnessed in the preparation for, and participation in, the recent International Meeting, held in Mauritius, to review the Barbados Programme of Action (BPoA) for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The Caribbean contribution at that meeting, was a collaborative effort involving CARICOM Member States and several non-CARICOM Caribbean countries including Cuba. Cuba's continued active participation is expected as we move to implement the Mauritius Strategy document on sustainable development.

On the international stage CARICOM, for its part, continues to reiterate unwavering support for the right of the Cuban people to choose their own government and for that government to carry out the mandate of the people in a manner beneficial to their social and economic development.

CARICOM Member States have therefore been part of the overwhelming majority of states at the United Nations which have opposed the continued economic embargo applied by the US on Cuba. Last year CARICOM also underlined, at the Organisation of American States, its opposition to a debate to censure Cuba. Our position remains that it is unfair to seek to censure a country in the forum of an organization from which its membership has been suspended, and in which consequently, in would not enjoy a right of reply.

As the process of the economic integration of the hemisphere is advanced, CARICOM remains steadfast in its position that Cuba, a Caribbean country, must be allowed to participate in hemispheric affairs, as it does in regional affairs, through the Association of Caribbean States. The Caribbean Community will continue to play its part in helping to facilitate the greater participation of Cuba in hemispheric affairs.

In other regional initiatives, CARICOM countries promoted Cuba's membership in both the ACP and in CARIFORUM. The Rules of Procedures of CARIFORUM were even changed, at the request of CARICOM States, to facilitate Cuba's membership in CARIFORUM. Now, Cuba is a full member of CARIFORUM. Regrettably, CARIFORUM was forced to temporarily close its Trade and Investment Facilitation Office in Cuba due to lack of financial resources.

Now that the CARIFORUM 9th EDF Regional Trade and Investment Programme is expected to be approved in this month, I have given instructions for a restructured and vibrant CARIFORUM Office in Cuba to be reopened, as soon as is possible. My hope is that this restructured Office will serve to promote and deepen further trade and investment cooperation between Cuba and the rest of CARIFORUM.

This is a brief overview of our CARICOM-Cuba Cooperation.

This Meeting of the Joint Commission has before it today, a wide array of issues, reflective of the breadth of relations between the Member States of CARICOM and Cuba. We know from experience that many of these areas require strengthening and we hope that this meeting will resolve many of the constraining problems, and facilitate progress in those areas.

I therefore join in welcoming all and extend best wishes for a most productive and successful meeting.

Finally, as part of the process of facilitating greater understanding between CARICOM and Cuba, I would like to present to Ministers Cabrisas and Cartaya, copies of the Book, "CARICOM: Our Caribbean Community: An Introduction" - the most recent publication of the CARICOM Secretariat.

I would also ask you Ministers, to kindly take this special edition of the book to His Excellency President Fidel Castro Ruiz. This publication provides a comprehensive overview of the CARICOM, its people and key initiatives. These copies are presented with the fraternal greetings of our Community. We hope they will present a welcome addition to your libraries, for the use particularly of your young people, and be a source for strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the people of CARICOM and of the Republic of Cuba.

I thank you.