Press release 56/2004
(19 April 2004)

The Most Hon. Percival J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica;
The Prime Minister of Dominica, The Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit;
Distinguished Commissioners Poul Nielson and Pascal Lamy of the European Union;
Senior Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Barbados, Dame Billie Miller;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Special Invitees:
Ambassadors to Brussels,
The Esteemed Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States, Mr. Jean-Robert Goulongana;
The Director-General of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), Ambassador Richard Bernal;
Mr. Co-President of the ACP/EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Ramdin Sardjoe;
Other Members of the Delegation of the European Union;
Senior Officials of CARIFORUM Member States, the CRNM and the CARICOM and OECS Secretariats;
Distinguished Guests;
Members of the Media;
Ladies and Gentlemen;

GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME.

My task this morning as Secretary-General of CARIFORUM is to Chair this Opening Ceremony of the Launching of the Negotiations between the Caribbean ACP States, and the European Union for an Economic Partnership Agreement. In doing so, permit me to make a few opening remarks. It is a most pleasant duty to welcome you all to this Ceremony. That welcome is especially warm for those of you coming from a certain colder clime of unforgettable, though pleasant memory. I invite you to absorb as much warmth as possible during your sojourn here in beautiful Jamaica.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a historic day. Today, 16 April 2004, sees the European Community and the Caribbean ACP States (CARIFORUM) embark on a new path to a process of enhanced trade and economic cooperation. This process of cooperation will be building on that which commenced nearly 30 years ago, with the first Lomé Convention. The series of Lomé Conventions - four in all - and their successor, the Cotonou Partnership Agreement have no doubt, helped to improve the quality of life of an increasing number of the population of the Caribbean Region, as first Suriname (in 1979) and then Haiti and Dominican Republic (in 1990) joined the English-speaking countries of the Region to partner the European countries signatories to those Agreements.

Today's historic demarche will no doubt change some of the principles, much of the mechanics and indeed the composition of the participants involved in this process, but it will not change its fundamental objective to further enhance the quality of life of the people of the participating States. How well it will succeed in attaining this fundamental objective, in the face of formidable challenges, both internal and external, will depend to a significant degree on the wisdom of our joint initiative commencing here today, and on the spirit in which the negotiations and subsequent implementation take place.

My many years of association with this process gives me faith and confidence. For despite its many limitations, it remains to the best of my knowledge, the most advanced and enduring process of trade and economic cooperation between the countries of the developed and those of the developing world, a reputation which it must now strive to maintain. But there are also too many signs of a happy augury, for me to be other than confident. Perhaps, the most important among these signs, is the quality of leadership of the process on both sides.

In that regard, there is none more venerable than the one in this room who unquestionably ranks among the longest surviving political figures involved in ACP/European Cooperation. He participated in the negotiations for the very first Lomé Convention and the ACP/EC Sugar Protocol, which he negotiated (with one Commissioner Lardinois of distant memory), will remain a landmark agreement in international economic cooperation. He served as President of the ACP Council of Ministers and of the ACP/EC Council of Ministers. He chaired, here in Kingston, in 1974, a key ACP/EC Ministerial Meeting on the way towards the negotiations of Lomé I and will today, some 30 years later, address the Launching Ceremony of these historic CARIFORUM/EU Negotiations for an Economic Partnership Agreement, designed to take Caribbean/European Cooperation deep into the 21st century.

It is with honour and pleasure - and indeed, confidence - that I now invite the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica, to deliver the Feature Address to this Ceremony.