Caricom heads convene here

Feb 17, 2017 News

– Outgoing Chairman urges speedy execution of long agreed-upon matters
The 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the

Dominica PM and Outgoing Caricom Chairman, Roosevelt Skerrit (foreground), arriving at the venue.

Caribbean Community (Caricom), kicked off at the Marriott Hotel, here in Georgetown, yesterday morning.
The two-day confab, which concludes today, is being attended by high-level State Officials of 15 Caribbean nations and five associate member states, as they assemble to primarily find solutions to some of the challenges being faced by the Region.
The meeting is being chaired by the President of Guyana, David Granger, with support from CARICOM’s Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque; the Outgoing Chairman, Prime Minister (PM) of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit; and high-ranking officials of the Caricom Secretariat located here in the nation’s Capital.
PM Skerrit, who delivered remarks at the opening of the conference, reiterated his call for Heads of Government to use whatever powers they have at their disposal to work towards the speedy and effective implementation of matters that have long been agreed upon by Member States.
“Today many of these matters are still pending, as they languish in our Ministerial Councils, Committees, Commissions and Working Groups. Whether this is due to them being inquorate or Member States asking for time to consult, or even officials not being adequately prepared, the effect is the same – a hindrance to progress,” Skerrit said.
During the course of the conference, it is expected that special emphasis will be placed on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) – under the broader heading of economic development – regional security and international relations.
The withdrawal of Correspondent Banking Relationships (CBR) from the Region, movement

Caricom Chairman and President of Guyana, David Granger (left) and Caricom Secretary-General, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, making their way to the Conference Hall yesterday morning.

towards the establishment of a single Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Space, and initiative on how to transform the Regional tourism sector, are also among the other matters on the agenda.
Delivering remarks also, President Granger spoke about the genesis of Caricom in 1973 and the lauded the determination of the four Founding Fathers: Barbados’ Errol Barrow; Guyana’s Forbes Burnham; Jamaica’s Michael Manley; Trinidad and Tobago’s Eric Williams.
Granger described these gentlemen as “courageous pioneers of the future” who were not “craven prisoners” of the past.
He added that the Founding Fathers were keen to protect the emergent new states from the perils of economic marginalization. This was a time, he stressed, when regional integration communities – such as the European Economic Community, the Latin American Free Trade Association, the Central American Common Market and the emerging East-African Economic Community – had taken root.
“The world-wide trends were clear – integrate or disintegrate; combine or collapse; merge or be submerged in a sea of strife. The Founding Fathers’ recognized that, given the deformed character of our colonial economies and the small size of our markets, integration would allow for a larger and safer market and for a louder, stronger voice in negotiating with other countries and regions,” the Guyanese Head of State told the conference.
Granger continued that the Founding Fathers were convinced that if the Caribbean was to fulfil the hopes and aspirations of their peoples for full employment and improved standards of work and living, regional integration was an obligation, not an option, for governments.
“That common, positive policy was conceived and the concrete foundation of our Community was laid at Chaguaramas (Trinidad and Tobago) on the three pillars of economic integration, foreign policy coordination and functional cooperation. We have erected a fourth pillar – security collaboration.
The Treaty of Chaguaramas was a response to the challenges of the post-colonial era. The Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas was the response to the post-Cold War era, a time of increasing trade liberalization and the growth of regional organizations,” the Chairman said.
“The Spirit of Chaguaramas is not the ghost or ‘jumbie’ of a dead project. It is the vital breath of life that inspires us to intensify regional integration. The ‘Founding Fathers’ had the inspiration to see the need for integration and the motivation to establish this great movement. They have entrusted the happiness of our citizens and the prosperity of our Community to our hands. We are, today, the trustees of this legacy. We must bequeath to our progeny a more prosperous region than we inherited from our progenitors,” Granger said.

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