Caribbean can rise above challenges
From The Barbados Advocate
It is only in the context of a properly functioning integration movement that the Caribbean region, now more closely knit than ever, can rise about the daunting challenges it now faces.
This was the message sent by Prime Minister of Barbados, The Honourable Freundel Stuart, on the occasion of the 34th Conference of the Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) last night in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
Prime Minister Stuart noted that the founding fathers of the regional integration movement all understood that politics is ultimately about using power to make the lives of people better socially, politically and economically.
“They believed that their best chance of making the lives of our people better was by bringing our countries much closer together in a relationship of shared aspirations, shared effort and shared resources. Their initiative sprang from a deeper and even more important belief – that of the uniqueness and the special importance of our Caribbean region,” the PM remarked.
“It cannot be denied that from time to time on our regional journey, we have faced challenges which have tended to make the achievement of our goals more difficult. But, I contend that on any objective evaluation of CARICOM over the last 40 years, it would have to be conceded that the people of the Caribbean …are more closely knit today than at any other time in the region’s history. Whether we are talking about trade, transport, education, health, agriculture, the Caribbean Sea and the environment, culture, sport, politics or even marriage, our people across the Caribbean have shown a growing faith in the future of this regional space,” Stuart stressed.
He acknowledged that the global economic crisis has not left Caribbean countries unscathed, but he noted that on the other hand, the people of the region have proven themselves to be quite resilient.
“The economic downturn which has been haunting the world since the last quarter of 2007 was not of CARICOM’s making, but CARICOM must face and deal with the inevitable fall out.
“The people of this region are not strangers to daunting challenges. Our history of slavery, indenture and racism has more than prepared us to deal with the challenges that have come our way. Present problems of debt and deficit, of unemployment and low or no growth are a continuing challenge to the character and resilience of our people. The global crisis is bad enough for the damage which it has done; but it is worse for what its continuation portends,” he added.
“It is at a moment like this that the leaders of this region have to be reminded that our people do not live by bread alone, but also by the continued affirmation of faith in the values and the virtues of the civilization which the regional integration movement is intended to reinforce” the PM advised.
“Our people must be reminded that it is only in the context of a properly functioning integration movement that we can find that crucible in which our social and economic arrangements can be melted and recast,” he contended. (RSM)
For more on this story go to:
http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=31380
Related story:
Caribbean Community leaders return to Trinidad to mark 40 years
By Jacqueline Charles Miami Herald
Forty years after the founding of their regional trade bloc, leaders of the Caribbean Community returned to its birthplace Wednesday (3) to mark the historic occasion and kick off a four-day agenda-packed summit.
The gathering in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad features presidents and prime minister from the 15 mostly English-speaking Caribbean nations that make up the community known as Caricom. In an opening ceremony, leaders paid tribute to the past, while looking ahead.
“As small nations we benefit from sharing our common and not so common experiences,” Bahamas Prime Minister Perry Christie said. “It is a work in progress, a continuing conversation around common themes and experiences from which we all benefit. In recent years, there has been some marked and open impatience with the pace of the Caricom project, but I am pleased to recognize that the journey continues.”
Caricom was founded July 4, 1973 in Trinidad and Tobago at a gathering of four Caribbean leaders — Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad — who signed the Treaty of Chaguaramas. The signing of the treaty will be re-enacted Thursday.
Christie was among several leaders who spoke, including outgoing chairman, Haiti President Michel Martelly. Before turning the leadership reins over to incoming chair, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, Martelly commended the bloc’s work this year and efforts in furthering Haiti’s integration.
Over the next four days, leaders will address issues ranging from regional transportation to U.S. compliance for foreign bank accounts to the future of the regional body, which has been described as “a talk shop” that has been too slow in creating a European-Union-like market and economy.
Emphasis also will be placed on discussing practical measures to grow the economies of the community and pull them out of the present slump.
Organization of American States Secretary General Jose Manuel Insulza also attended. Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina, Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who chairs the African, Caribbean, Pacific (ACP) group and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, have also been invited to meet with leaders during the summit.
For more on this story go to:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/03/3484122/caribbean-community-leaders-return.html
Also see related story in iNews Cayman published July 3rd 2013 “Premier to Trinidad for CARICOM Meeting” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/07/premier-to-trinidad-for-caricom-meeting
See also iNews Cayman story published July 3rd 2013 “34th Annual Caribbean (CARICOM) Heads Of Government Meeting Opens July 3rd” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/07/34th-annual-caribbean-caricom-heads-of-government-meeting-opens-july-3rd/
And published July 2nd 2013 Caricom: Caribbean Integration Movement turns 40” at:
http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/07/caricom-caribbean-integration-movement-turns-40/
