(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Chairman of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) has underscored the necessity of unity if the small islands that comprised the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) were to develop.
The Hon. C. Sandra Husbands, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Barbados, urged delegates at the two-day Meeting at the Georgetown Marriott in Guyana to make the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) work and gave notice that Barbados was pursuing the “prosper thy neighbor approach”.
The Minister made the remarks at the opening session of the Forty-Seventh Meeting of COTED on Thursday morning.
“The Government of Barbados has come here to get it right. The stakes are high and we have not come here to fail. We are here with a prosper thy neighbour approach. If one succeeds, all will succeed. We will all share in each other’s success”, Minister Husbands said.
She added: “We are in a world where the special circumstances of small states are being overlooked and undervalued. This puts us at great risk if we do nothing, and presents us with great opportunity to deconstruct what no longer adds value and reconstruct what will enrich our future, if we act swiftly and effectively. None but ourselves will ensure that we do not fail in our pursuits aimed at further integration, cooperation and harmonisation. Our efforts need to be focused on changing the dynamic at the extra-regional and the intra-regional level. We must make CARICOM work. This includes ensuring that our institutions work as well-oiled machinery”, the COTED Chair added.
Given that the Community was in competition with the rest of the world, the COTED Chair pointed out that the very survival of Member States of CARICOM depended on “our identifying our common interest, and acting as one in common cause to achieve our objectives.”
“We are not fifteen members haggling and negotiating to create individual benefit for our countries. Rather we are sister territories striving to manage our resources and opportunities to generate accelerated value and benefit which we share for mutual benefit”, she said.
I need my OECS passport. I am so sick of seeing Caricom on my passport.
You sick of seeing CARICOM on your passport?
Its over 44 years. Caribbean leaders are a waste of time. Today a young family friend is pursuing studies in Trinidad and she is required to show a return ticket. I went to the US for school no one aske me when i am going back. These people been meeting for ober 40 years to take photo, have fine food and drink, talk talk talk and get nowhere. We share the same waters and i am yet to see one Caricom fishing resource policy,. Same for the environment, disaster, health etc. We like a bunch of small bubbles blowing in the wind. I need to see action 30 years of talk talk talk is enough. Unemployment still high, drug trafficking and violent crimes rampant and people take no pride in the asthetic, architecture, cleanliness, etc…. Of thier communities. Go see polution in Jamaica.
I see a lot of talk from numerous heads from different islands- however where is the action? If we are to become more unified– where are the programs for such? Stop saying we need something when you all provide no way to accomplish the goal! Words with no actions are better left unsaid.