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ADDRESS, PRIME MINISTER BRUCE GOLDING TO CARICOM 31 MONTEGO BAY

ADDRESS BY

JAMAICA'S PRIME MINISTER 

 HON.  BRUCE GOLDING

AT THE

OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 31ST MEETING OF

HEADS OF GOVERNMENT OF CARICOM

ROSE HALL RESORT

MONTEGO BAY, ST. JAMES

 SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2010

 Jamaica is honoured to behosting this 31st regular meeting of the Heads of Government of theCaribbean Community, in Montego Bay, a city whose links with the Caribbeanintegration movement go back to that historic conference in 1947 when Britishcolonies of the Caribbean met here to chart a course for the region as theworld emerged from the Second World War. It is fitting, then, that we meetagain in Montego Bay to renew our commitments and evaluate our progress. Thisopportunity was afforded us by our sister Republic of Haiti which had to foregothe honour of leading CARICOM in this semester in order to concentrate on theurgent task of rebuilding following the disastrous earthquake of January 12th.

 

We are happy to have with usthe distinguished President of Haiti, His Excellency René Preval. He has facedchallenges of immeasurable proportions and we salute his leadership in thistime of crisis and post-crisis reconstruction. We wish to assure the Haitianpeople of the steadfast support of the Caribbean Community in the immense taskof recovery and advancement which now confronts them.

 

The reconstruction of Haiti isCARICOM's most urgent priority. We commend the international community for thecommitments of financial support amounting to almost US$10 billion from 57donor countries and organizations. However, we impress upon the internationalcommunity the urgency with which actions must follow these commitmentsespecially in strengthening the institutional capacity of Haiti to undertakethe mammoth task at hand. We are proud of the diligent role played by CARICOM'sSpecial Representative on Haiti, the Most Hon. P.J. Patterson. CARICOM willcontinue to do everything it can to ensure that the Haitian people are not onlyput back on their feet, but on a firm path to sustained growth.

 

We are delighted to have the UNSecretary General, HE Ban Ki-Moon, at this Conference of CARICOM Heads and welook forward with great anticipation to the discussions we will have with him.

Our Conference is also very pleased to welcome once again the SecretaryGeneral of the Organization of American States, HE José Miguel Insulza, astrong supporter of CARICOM with whom our region has maintained very productiverelations.

 

Tomorrow, for the first time,also, at a CARICOM Conference of Heads, we will welcome the Managing Directorof the IMF, Mr. Dominique Strauss Khan. The issues which we shall discuss withhim are of critical importance to our region, especially at this time.

We welcome especially the newPrime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the Hon. KamlaPersad-Bissessar and congratulate her on her historic achievement. My ColleagueHeads and I look forward to the wisdom which she will bring to ourdeliberations. Trinidad and Tobago has always played a significant role inCARICOM and we have every confidence that it will continue to do so under herleadership.

 

We congratulate the Hon. DenzilDouglas, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, whose government was re-electedsince our last regular conference. We welcome back to the leadership of CARICOMthe Hon. Reuben Meade who was appointed Chief Minister of Montserrat followinghis party's victory in September but who, because of circumstances beyond hiscontrol, is unable to attend this Conference. We welcome, as well, the Hon. HubertHughes, the new Chief Minister of Anguilla, who assumed office followingelections held in January. We anticipate the solid contribution we know theywill all make to the work of CARICOM.

We regret the absence of thePrime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. David Thompson, due to ill health. Ibelieve I speak for all of us here gathered in assuring him of our prayers andsupport.

 

The outcome of theconstitutional process to form a new government in Suriname following itselections in May has not yet been determined. We are, however, pleased towelcome the Surinamese delegation that is here despite the uncertainties of thetransition.

 

We remain concerned at thesuspension of representative government in the Turks and Caicos Islands and weurge a speedy restoration of democracy consistent with the principles of goodgovernance.

The Prime Minister of theCommonwealth of Dominica, the Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, whom we also congratulateon his re-election since our last regular Conference, deserves our heartiest commendationfor his chairmanship of CARICOM since January this year. His was a period thattested the capacity of our Community to respond to unexpected crises. We areproud of the leadership he gave us.

 

We meet as leaders of 14sovereign nations and 6 British overseas territories comprising over 16 millionpeople who have so much in common, but are equally enriched by the diversitythat makes us the remarkable people that we are.

 

In a real sense, this Communitywas not created by the Treaty of Chaguaramas. It existed as a naturalconsequence of our geography, our shared history and common circumstances. WhatChaguaramas did was to give it a formal structure, define its purpose andideals and establish the principles and rules on which it must operate.

 

We must, however, be mindful ofthe disillusionment expressed so often by many of our people who feel thatCARICOM has not worked, that it has not lived up to their expectations. Thereis no shortage of cynics who watch as we gather in Montego Bay and sigh "Therethey go again!"

It is nowhere as bad as somemake it out to be. We have made progress in several areas and that is not to bediscounted or discredited. But we must acknowledge that 37 years after Chaguaramas,21 years after Grand Anse and 9 years after Chaguaramas revised, we have stillnot fulfilled the dreams of those visionaries who led the integration movementbefore. We have not yet achieved even the goals that we as the contemporaryheirs of that legacy have set for our time.

We have identified what iscalled our "implementation deficit". We have not agreed on how to fix it.

 

The issue of Caricom'sgovernance structure cannot any longer be avoided. As we go onto thisConference, we are called by commentators to put up or shut up, to make thisthing work or forget about it.

The impatience that isexpressed is oblivious of the need to make sure we get it right, to make surethat it will endure.

 

We delude ourselves if webelieve that we alone, as leaders who are subject to the vicissitudes of competitivepolitics, are competent to give that mandate. We delude ourselves if we believethat we can achieve the integration we seek without building trust andunderstanding not only among ourselves as leaders but among the people we lead.Of all our failings, perhaps our greatest is to believe that we can unite theCaribbean without first uniting the Caribbean people. That is an issue thisConference must take up in the context of the governance structure that we mustaddress. Let Montego Bay, as it has done in the past, be a turning point, a newbeginning.

 

The process will not always be smooth and problem-free. Everycommunity of nations faces the likelihood, from time to time, of dissonancebetween its declared community goals and actions and the peculiar circumstancesand priorities of its individual members. Ask the European Union! We are nodifferent.

 

As leaders who are held accountable by our separateconstituencies, we have the sometimes difficult task of ensuring and convincingour people of the consistency between community goals and national aspirations,that what is required by CARICOM is good for our separate selves. This is notan issue to be dismissed as mere insularity. It must be addressed in all itscomplexities in a deliberative, constructive and helpful way.

 

We must do so because,notwithstanding these difficulties, we are faced with the stark reality thatthe world is shaping and realigning itself into huge blocs with definedinterests that determine how they relate to the rest of the world and how theyrelate to us. None of us, especially those as small as we are, can or will makeit on our own. Even as a community of 16 million people, we are sufficiently atrisk.

We are being pressed to enterinto trading arrangements in which we are ill-equipped to compete. We deludeourselves if we think the world owes us anything - a world that believes thatit has more than repaid whatever debt it might have owed. Our reality check isthat we are on our own and we must decide whether in the journey that we mustmake we are going to walk alone or walk together.

 

Our reckoning is made moreurgent by emerging new challenges that confront us separately and collectively.Our economies have been severely dislocated by the global recession. We do nothave the resources or the fiscal space to support effective stimulus packagesto refloat our economies. Our economies are naked, shivering for warmth in theblizzard of the global crisis. Some of the gains we made in the attainment ofthe Millennium Development Goals at great effort and sacrifice over the lastdecade have been eroded in the last two years. The global economy is not likelyto be the same again and its new configuration, still undetermined, is notlikely to be kind to small, open economies like ours. The financial turbulencein Europe suggests that the recession that we thought was over may yet perhaps havea long way to go.

 

We in the Caribbean remainorphans in the global financial arrangements, not regarded as poor enough toqualify for special treatment, but not advanced enough to survive withoutspecial treatment. The international community has largely overlooked theplight of small, highly-indebted, middle-income countries because we do notpose a threat to the global economy although the global economy and the globalfinancial system poses a serious threat to us.

 

These circumstances have madeus more vulnerable to the threat posed by organized crime. Crime does not existin isolation, it does not exist in a vacuum. It thrives in an environment inwhich poverty is prevalent and hope and opportunities limited. We are locatedalong one of the principal routes for the trafficking of illicit drugs. We lackthe institutional capacity to secure our borders, or to patrol our waters or tomount an effective counter-offensive against the powerful narcotics trade. Theinfestation of our communities and the corruption of our institutions present achallenge to which we must respond, but one that requires resources that we donot have.

 

The Regional Security System inthe eastern Caribbean and the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative recentlylaunched by President Obama are important mechanisms, but we need to do muchmore. The transnational nature of organized crime requires much greatercollaboration among us and between us and our international partners with equalemphasis being given to the supply, transit and demand sides of theinternational drug trade. We cannot be given an unfair share of the burden incombating illicit drugs, and we must continue to press for more effectivemeasures to stem the flow of guns into the Caribbean, because not only are theythe symbol and tool of criminal organizations, but they filter down into thehands of itinerant criminals with grave consequences for the peace and safety ofour countries.

 

Let us also be clear thatfighting crime is not just a law-enforcement exercise. It is a majordevelopment issue. Rooting out criminal gangs that have embedded themselves incommunities will leave a huge space which, if not quickly filled by meaningfulprogrammes that empower people, provide training, create jobs, generate newopportunities and offer hope, will shortly thereafter be filled by a new,smarter generation of criminals. Social intervention and social transformationis the development dimension of the fight against crime that we dare notignore.

 

While we strive to improve theeffectiveness of CARICOM, we are conscious of the fact that we are part of thelarger region of Latin America and the Caribbean in which there are common interestsand synergies that must be pursued. As signatories to the Declaration of Intentwhich was signed in Cancun, Mexico in February for the establishment of theCommunity of Latin American and Caribbean States, we intend to make ourcontribution to the strengthening of ties among this large group of 33sovereign nations with a combined population of 575 million people and withmore than adequate resources to provide for all those people a better life.

 

Our agenda for this Conferenceis, as usual, heavily laden. It reflects the weight of both our unfinishedbusiness and our new challenges. Let us repair to the tasks that are before us.There has never been a time like this and we must not be found wanting.

I thank you for listening.