We have come to Guyana on the initiative of the Caribbean Community as stated in the Press Release of 8 January 1998 by the Community's current Chairman, Prime Minister Mitchell of Grenada. Also, as there stated, we have come with the specific concurrence of the two main political parties in Guyana - and we hope as well with the support of all political and other elements of Guyanese society.
Member
(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Jamaica, on Tuesday at the Second Special Meeting of the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP), joined Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago in making an initial pledge to the regional Development Fund. Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago had made initial pledges last December at the First Special Meeting of COFAP.
As Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community, it is not only a very special honour and privilege but also a great pleasure to be able to offer these brief remarks on the occasion of the twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Caribbean Community. The task is all the more pleasant for the fact that I had the good fortune to be at Chaguaramas to witness the signing of the Treaty, which transformed the Caribbean Free Trade Area (CARIFTA) into CARICOM on that historic Fourth of July 1973.