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Thank you for inviting me to participate with you in this important dialogue. It was a pleasure for me to accept the invitation, not only because of the special regard and respect I have for ANSA MACAL, but because of the opportunity this has afforded me to interact with key members in the regional private sector, a sector which has a critical role to play in the implementation of the ongoing project that we call the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
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Members of Parliament,
Excellency, Dean of the CARICOM High Commissioners,
Excellencies of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen_
I am very pleased to be here representing CARICOM at this celebration of the 28th Anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community and the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States - the OECS.
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Twenty years ago on June 18, 1981, the Treaty of Basseterre gave birth to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). It's founding fathers fashioned a remarkable admixture of functional cooperation between its Member-States and an embryonic confederal structure which possesses the seeds for a further deepening or strengthening in the visionary quest for a confederal political union, at a minimum.
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The Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Mr. Edwin Carrington, said June 19 that, according to a survey made by the Caribbean Epidemiological Centre (CAREC), the Region is the region hardest hit in the world by HIV/AIDS, second only to sub-Saharan Africa. |
Mr Chairman, Prime Ministers, Ministers, Delegates
Let me first welcome you to Antigua and Barbuda. It is a great pleasure to see you all here.
Remember this is your second Caribbean home. Antigua, after all, is the place where the Caribbean Free Trade Area was conceived at Dickenson Bay in 1965; the location for the creation of the Regional Negotiating Machinery in 1996; and the site for the conceptualisation of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States in 1979.
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Hon Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda |
The Government of Grenada is pleased that so many busy professional persons have responded to our call for help to address the crucial issue of strategic exploitation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for the benefit of our peoples and the Region.
Mr. Noel, Chairman of today's Proceedings,
Chairman of the GIDC, Mr. Anthony Joseph,
General Manager of the GIDC, Mrs. Sonia Roden
President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Mr. Christopher DeAllie
Mr. Stan Phillip, representative of Nortel Networks Ltd
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Mr Chairman, Distinguished Delegates.
Let me first thank you for giving me the privilege of addressing your Conference. As they say in the airline business, I know you have choices. I'm flattered you opted for me. I promise to return the favour by making this part of your Conference mercifully short.
Mr Chairman, I was intrigued with the theme of your Conference - "Riding the waves of Change". It is a theme that has a special resonance for the Caribbean. Riding the waves of change aptly describes the Caribbean experience.