His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana
The Hon. Dr. Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport
Other Ministers of Government
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Directors of Culture
Members of the Interim Festival Directorate of CARIFESTA
Members of the Artistic Community
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a pleasure and an honour for me to participate in this launch of CARIFESTA X and to bring greetings on behalf of the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community who would have liked to be here but who is unavoidably absent.

We are very pleased that the Government of Guyana offered to host CARIFESTA X and wish to thank them most sincerely for taking on the mammoth task of organizing the Festival in just one year. In so doing, this exceptional celebration of Caribbean arts and culture will return to its birthplace of 1972, some 36 years later.

In the Caribbean Community, culture is increasingly seen as the root and fruit of our development. The root, because it goes to the heart of who we are as a people. The fruit, because it is the product or manifestation of our identity. This product, through our cultural industries, can also bring significant economic returns.

CARIFESTA is the major forum for cultural expression and cooperation in our Community – and indeed the entire Caribbean Region. In addition to showcasing the diversity and richness of our cultural heritage and the considerable talents of our people, this festival encourages cultural exchanges and promotes people to people contact within our Community as well as between our Community and the wider Caribbean. As you know, contingents from Cuba and the overseas territories such as Martinique and Guadeloupe participate regularly.

CARIFESTA is also a critical tool of our integration process as it promotes greater awareness of the many sides of our heritage.

CARIFESTA needs to be a dynamic process. It has to evolve to remain not only interesting but also relevant. In this regard, the artistes of the Region themselves have played a critical role. They were the ones who in 1970 launched the ideas that would become the vision that led to the first CARIFESTA in 1972 here in Guyana. CARIFESTA has evolved and changed in many respects since that time, through the nine presentations of the event in seven host countries. I would like to thank and pay tribute to the governments that have hosted and thus helped to keep the Festival alive, beginning with Guyana in 1972, Jamaica in 1976; Cuba in 1979; Barbados in 1981; Trinidad and Tobago, the only Member State that has hosted three times in 1992, 1995 and most recently in 2006; and Suriname in 2003.

It was again a group of artistes attending one of the Symposia in 2003, at CARIFESTA VIII in Suriname that called for the restructuring of the Festival to ensure that CARIFESTA is more dynamic, economically viable and meets the expectations of regional and international audiences, as well as the needs of the artistic community.

As a result, a new Strategic Plan was developed for the Festival in 2004, which articulated the new vision: “To position CARIFESTA as a world-renowned, hallmark festival of Caribbean cultural and artistic excellence, that generates economic benefits, unites the Region and excites all peoples.”

I would like to specially welcome the artistes and government representatives from our sister Member States, who are in Guyana to participate in the Sixth Meeting of the Interim Festival Directorate of CARIFESTA, and in the annual meeting of Directors of Culture in the Nineteenth Meeting of the Regional Cultural Committee. They have spent most of the past 2 days discussing in depth plans for CARIFESTA X and the future management of the Festival. Improving the intellectual property value of the Festival and expanding the marketing and promotion of the event in the Region and in the global arena are some of the critical innovations being put in place.

I thank them for their commitment to supporting, shaping and maintaining this event.

In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to wish the host country, Guyana, every success as it prepares for CARIFESTA X and to pledge the continued support of the CARICOM Secretariat in ensuring the success of this special event which provides us with a unique opportunity to see and to celebrate ourselves as a people of one Region.

This evening we rejoice in our “one-ness” in keeping with the theme of this launch. The wider region looks forward to returning to the birthplace of CARIFESTA, Guyana, on August 22-31, 2008. What we will see tonight is but a small taste of what we can expect from CARIFESTA X, an event which we all anticipate with great excitement.

Thank you.