(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) George Lamming, poet, novelist, essay writer, orator, lecturer, teacher, editor and tireless activist for a new world-order and a New-World order, seems to have entered the world of Caribbean letters as an elder statesman. Born on June 8, 1927 in Carrington Village, Barbados, Lamming attended Roebuck's Boys' School from which he won a scholarship to Combermere High School.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The computer was a mere thought in 1933, the year Rex Nettleford was born in the parish of Trelawny on the edge of Jamaica's Cockpit Country. In those days, babies cooed, giggled and googled when they were fed and felt content – as, no doubt, did baby Nettleford whose mother lavished him with loving care.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) English-speaking Caribbean communities have made their greatest single cultural investment in the cricket enterprise. Citizens have come to measure the extent of community detachment from the oppressive grip of the colonial scaffold in terms of the competitive excellence of the Region's international team.
The distance from Grand Bay in the south-east corner of Dominica to Government House in Roseau is not much more than ten miles, but for His Excellency Dr. Nicholas Joseph Orville Liverpool, President of the Commonwealth of Dominica, it has been an extraordinary journey by way of Britain, most of the Western world, and every country of the Commonwealth Caribbean.
We have gathered again, as we do so frequently, this time in the beautiful islands of Antigua and Barbuda, and we must thank the government and people of Antigua and Barbuda for receiving us as splendidly as they have done.
We have come together as leaders of the 15 member countries and 5 associate countries that make up this Community. And let me say this, in case there be any doubt that still lingers_ JAMAICA REMAINS FIRMLY COMMITTED TO CARICOM!
Chairpersons of the Opening Ceremony
Her Excellency Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda
The Honourable Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community
Colleague Heads of Government
Premiers, Chief Ministers and Leader of Government Business of the Associate Members of the Community
Secretary General of the Caribbean Community
Secretary General of the Organisation of American States
Your Excellency Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda
The Honourable Winston Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community
Your Excellencies, Presidents of Guyana, Haiti and Suriname
Other Distinguished Heads of Government
Honourable Ministers
Secretaries-General of the Organisation of American States and of the Commonwealth [and of the Association of Caribbean States]
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Hon Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica, in an unequivocal statement on Tuesday (1 July 2008) to the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government re-affirmed his country's commitment to CARICOM.
Prime Minister Golding who was attending his first Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government as a Head of Government told the Opening Ceremony held at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa that Jamaica remained firmly committed to CARICOM.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) New Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the Hon Baldwin Spencer has cited the issue of regional security as one of the most critical issues to be tackled by the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government.
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The historic Dickenson Bay in Antigua and Barbuda was the venue of the Opening Ceremony of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community.