Honourable Ricardo Cabrisas, Minister of Foreign Trade and other Honourable Ministers of the Government of Cuba and of the Caribbean Community
Ambassador Dr. Carlyle Dunkley and other distinguished Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps
Assistant Secretary General for Regional Trade and Economic Integration of the CARICOM Secretariat, Mr Byron Blake
Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, Mr Earle Baccus;
Manager of the Caribbean Trade and Investment Facilitation Office in Cuba, Mr. Clarkson Thomas;
Members of the Business Community
Other distinguished guests,
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to be in Cuba once again. The magnificence of its history, culture and beauty is always an outstanding feature of this largest of our Caribbean isles. If for that reason alone, I always look forward to being here. On this occasion, I had the additional pleasure of not only being here in Havana, but also of savouring the warmth and generous hospitality of Santiago de Cuba, that great historical city, which perhaps provides the closest Cuban link with the rest of the Caribbean. If for no other reason - but I can assure you, there were others - the Sixth Meeting of the CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission held in that city over the last two days was indeed a success.

The occasion we mark today, namely, the inauguration of the Caribbean Trade and Investment Facilitation Office in Havana, is the latest in a long line of measures which Cuba and the countries of CARICOM have undertaken to strengthen the fraternal bonds of friendship between them to their mutual benefit. Moreover, it is only measures of this nature which can make the Caribbean whole.

In 1972, the four then independent nations of the Caribbean Community - Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago - established diplomatic relations with Cuba, at a time when, let me just say, it was not a popular thing to do! Last year we celebrated a quarter century of that diplomatic relationship

Twenty one years later, in 1993, the Caribbean Community and Cuba established a CARICOM-Cuba Joint Commission, as a mechanism for advancing cooperation between them in a number of areas, vital to their mutual development. It was the Sixth Meeting of that Joint Commission, that took us to the beautiful Santiago de Cuba.

The process of cooperation between Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean has undoubtedly benefitted from the recommendations of the 1992 Report of the Independent West Indian Commission, headed by Sir Shridath Ramphal, currently Chief Negotiator of the Regional Negotiating Machinery. That recommendation, which was accepted by the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, called for the strengthening of economic and functional cooperation among all political entities, located in, or bordering the Caribbean Sea, as a means for more effective utilisation of the political, economic, technical, cultural and other resources of the Region.

Flowing from that recommendation, was the creation of the Association of Caribbean States, an Organisation in which Cuba has been a Founding Member and plays a leading role. The same can essentially be said of CARICOM-Cuba cooperation in the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, itself, a Caribbean Organisation designed specifically to oversee the development of the Region's largest industry, the tourism industry.

In the wider international field, CARICOM-Cuba cooperation extends into Cuba's aspirations to become a member of the Caribbean States (CARIFORUM), parties to the recently concluded Convention between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific States. In the United Nations, it includes the current initiative to secure International Recognition of the Caribbean Sea as a Special Area within the Context of Sustainable Development.

The most recent development in CARICOM-Cuba cooperation is the undertaking to enter into a free trade arrangement between the two parties. Preparations are afoot to bring this initiative to fruition without much delay.

The Opening of the Caribbean Trade and Investment Facilitation Office in Cuba, is therefore a further step in the process of closer cooperation between Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean, and signals a strategic development, to move from policy to practice, by establishing the operational machinery, to enhance the implementation of economic, trade and commercial relations, between Cuba and the rest of the Caribbean.

The resulting increase in CARICOM-Cuba trade, for large as well as small producers, will signal to regional and other investors, the potential which exists for economic benefit, through the beneficial exchanges of imports and exports, both of goods, as well as services. Equally beneficial and indispensable thereto, are the opportunities for the transportation thereof.

Some pioneers such as the Super Clubs and Sandals Group of Jamaica did not await the initiative of CARICOM officialdom, as they entered the Cuban tourism sector.

Parallel with this development, is the benefit to the emerging number of financial institutions which are now gearing up, to provide, better trade financing and other financial services to facilitate this two way trade. The negotiation of the CARICOM-Cuba trade agreement will further propel this movement towards profitable economic integration in the wider Caribbean Region.

On behalf of the wider Caribbean and in particular, the Member States of the Caribbean Community, I therefore wish to express our profound thanks and gratitude to the Government of Cuba for the establishment of this Caribbean Trade and Investment Facilitation Office in Cuba. It represents without doubt, a quantum leap in the ever deepening process of cooperation between the Governments, the peoples and in particular, the productive sectors of Cuba and those of the rest of the Caribbean.

May its success represent a watershed in CARICOM-Cuba cooperation.

VIVA COOPERACION CARICOM-CUBA!

VIVA COOPERACION CARIFORUM-CUBA!