Your Excellency Ambassador H.E. Mr. Soong-chull Shin
Deputy Secretary-General
Assistant Secretaries General
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Members of the Media

Your Excellency, on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to the Headquarters of the Caribbean Community Secretariat. This welcome you can be sure is extended to include the Caribbean Community itself.

Your presence here today is principally for this Ceremony to sign an Agreement for the Establishment of a Consultation and Cooperation Mechanism between the Caribbean Community and the Republic of Korea. This Agreement marks a new and significant step in ongoing cooperation between the Republic of Korea and the Caribbean Community.

Indeed despite the lack of any formal Cooperation Agreement, until now the current relations between the Community and the Republic of Korea have resulted in various Regional development assistance initiatives by your country in recent years.

In this regard we recall your country’s recent assistance to the Community in the area of Governance. This intervention enhanced the Community’s ability to undertake an Electoral Observer Mission in Haiti for the recent Presidential elections.

The Community is also currently carrying out a much needed study on Improving the Structure of Governance in the CARICOM Community, which is intended to ensure that the Community functions with greater effectiveness and efficiency. It will also serve to ensure greater involvement of all stakeholders in the decision-making processes of the Community, indeed the Technical Working Group led by the respected Prof. Vaughn Lewis, former Prime Minister of Saint Lucia and comprising a number of eminent Caribbean Experts are currently here in Georgetown and will be meeting with the Secretariat this very afternoon. Your country’s support to this on-going critical project is greatly appreciated.

The formalising of the CARICOM-Korea relationship through the signing of this Agreement will serve to strengthen and further consolidate the structure of CARICOM-Korea relations.

Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen, through much consultation CARICOM and Korea have identified seven key areas in which cooperation may be pursued in the best interest of both the Republic of Korea and the Caribbean Community. These include inter alia:

1. Deepening the level of mutual understanding between CARICOM and the Republic of Korea;

2. Strengthening consultations concerning bilateral, regional, and international issues of mutual interest;

3. Promotion of the expansion and diversification of trade and investment flows between CARICOM and the Republic;

4. Promotion of investment and tourism;

5. The exchange of views and information on measures to facilitate access to our respective markets;

6. Fostering entrepreneurial, scientific, technological and personnel exchange and;

7. The use of information and communication Technology for development in the Community;

Today, ladies and gentlemen in the spirit of friendship and cooperation that have been the hallmark of this relationship, and through this act of partnership, CARICOM and the Republic of Korea, have taken the necessary steps to deepen and diversify regional cooperation.

It is therefore, my distinct pleasure, on behalf of the Caribbean Community to extend my appreciation to the Government and people of the Republic of Korea for their commitment to this partnership and to assure you, Excellency, that the Caribbean Community will play its part in ensuring that the relationship is a mutually beneficial and even exemplary one.

I thank you.