Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis and Chairman of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, delivered a powerful affirmation of regional integration during his feature address at the Opening Ceremony of the 50th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM, February 24th.
Speaking before regional leaders, international partners, and distinguished guests, Prime Minister Drew reflected on the historical journey of the Caribbean people and the transformative impact of collective action through CARICOM.
Highlighting the region’s enduring global contributions, the Chairman declared, “Accordingly, a world without CARICOM would be culturally poorer, intellectually diminished and spiritually less vibrant.” He continued with emphasis, “Just imagine a world without CARICOM. It definitely would not be the same.”
In his address, Prime Minister Drew reminded the audience that the Caribbean’s story is one of resilience forged through adversity, from the crucible of slavery and colonization to the building of independent democratic nations. He pointed to the region’s cultural, intellectual, and political contributions to the world, including its music, spiritual movements, revolutionary struggles for freedom, and internationally recognized scholars and leaders.
“Our integration was neither accidental or causal,” the Prime Minister stated, noting that the Treaty of Chaguaramas was not merely a legal framework, but “a declaration of Caribbean confidence.”
The Chairman underscored that CARICOM’s value extends far beyond symbolism. He outlined the practical and measurable benefits delivered through regional institutions and mechanisms that continue to safeguard and advance the lives of Caribbean citizens.
Referencing institutions such as the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Regional Security System (RSS), the Caribbean Examinations Council (CSEC), and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Prime Minister Drew emphasized that regional progress would have been severely constrained without collective coordination.
“By ourselves, many of our states could not have achieved what togetherness has made possible,” he affirmed.
The Prime Minister stressed that in a rapidly shifting global order, marked by supply chain instability, climate shocks, energy volatility, and geopolitical uncertainty, fragmentation breeds vulnerability, while togetherness generates resilience.
CARICOM remains indispensable, the Prime Minister expressed, to safeguarding sovereignty, strengthening regional resilience, expanding economic coordination, and advancing sustainable development for present and future generations across the Caribbean Community.
As CARICOM marks its 50th Regular Meeting, Prime Minister Drew’s address served as a renewed call to honor the founding principles of cooperation, functional integration, economic coordination, and collective self-reliance that continue to define the regional enterprise.
In each CARICOM territory, the Heads of government and their ministers are filthy rich while the vast majority of the citizenry are severely poverty-stricken.
The internal hyper partisan politics, unbridled greed, widespread corruption will keep the region eternally divided. If you cannot fix your local, internal affairs and temper the fierce political rivalry, how can you form a perfect union among fifteen (15) different ‘ sovereign’ countries?
CARICOM has been nothing bit a monumental disappointment. Can it be saved? The question is anybody’s guess.
But does CARICOM exist nou? So that why we are poor? The CARICOM we see is a comradery of head of states to cover for one another and to hell with the people. A thing where leaders of CARICOM state will come to campaign for their friends, and a CARICOM that will send their soldiers or police to another island to shoot the people and terrorize them when they stand against what is wrong. A CARICOM that helps them to bring in their Corruptwealth in secret.So it’s a CARICOM that only works for them against us