02 July 2008CARICOM Here To Stay
There Will Be No Overhaul Of CARICOM.
Incoming Chairman Baldwin Spencer made this emphatic statement as he addressed heads of Government of CARICOM at the opening ceremony of the 29th meeting of the conference in Antigua yesterday evening.
His comments came against the backdrop of what he said was a colourful description made by Prime Minster of St. Vincent Ralph Gonsalves, of Caricom being a ramshackle institution.
As harsh as Prime Minister s Gonzales judgement might appear to be, we ignore his call for an overhaul of Caricom at our peril. There is manifest need for deep introspection of re-engineering Caricom. Within this framework, we must move immediately to engage the bureau of heads with vital function of driving the implementation of key decisions between regular meetings and inter-sessional. This should be one of the targeted outcomes of this meeting.
He, however, conceded that there is an endemic communication gap that Caricom needs to bridge urgently saying that mass communication must be elevated on the region s agenda.
Spencer said with the region facing rising energy prices, climate change, obesity, AIDS, drug use and human trafficking, CARICOM must act as one.
No country big or small has the capacity to solve problems such as drug trafficking, climate change, or escalating food prices on its own. We must act as one in the interest of the people of this region.
Tourism is now facing a 17 per cent cut back in airline services from our tourism supply services & together with increases in airfares and new airline charges, this makes for bleak prospective for the region s tourism-driven economy.
With regard to travel, he noted that while the offer made by LIAT to fill the void created by the reduction in airlift by US air carriers is commendable, it is not a viable proposition.
The incoming chairman also used the opportunity to address the problem of brain drain in the region.
The departure of our brightest and our best to greener foreign pastures impoverishes the region, which cherishes our people as our most valuable resource. We have to devise ways of keeping our graduates in the region and for attracting those now working abroad to return to lead a transformation for our region to developed country standard and status.
As we grapple with these complex and urgent issues over the next three days, we are convinced that this 29th regular meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government can be a key building stone to that purpose. CARICOM member states continued to be stripped of invaluable assets, which apply to an estimated majority of our region s university graduates to organisations and institutions in other countries. This massive and unabated brain drain shows no signs of subsiding and is serious cause for concern at the level of the Heads of the Community, he said.
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