ON the 47th Anniversary of the regional integration movement, the People’s National Congress Reform extends warm congratulations to the people of the Caribbean Community, the staff of the CARICOM Secretariat, and to the Guyanese people for a happy and meaningful CARICOM Day 2020.

Forty-seven years ago, the Treaty of Chaguaramas established the Caribbean Community and Common Market, later known as CARICOM. At the 8th Heads of Government conference of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), held in April 1973 in Georgetown Guyana, the decision was made to establish the Caribbean Community. The process through which it was to be established is set out in the Georgetown Accord issued by that conference.

The Founding Fathers of CARICOM and the signatories to the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed on the 4th of July 1973 in Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago, were Prime Ministers Hon. Errol Barrow for Barbados; Hon. Forbes Burnham for Guyana; Hon. Michael Manley for Jamaica; and Hon. Eric Williams for Trinidad and Tobago. The PNCR takes great pride in the role of our Founder Leader in the regional integration movement. Our Party trusts that even as we celebrate this occasion, we will all continue to commit ourselves to the strengthening and advancement of our common Caribbean home.

The PNCR has played a pivotal role in promoting and sustaining the movement for the development of a common Caribbean identity and a strong Regional Economy. The integration process has been challenged before, in various ways, but it has survived them, and as a result is today one of the oldest integration movements in the World. The PNCR would never lose faith in the resilience of the Community, despite the trials. On this the 47th Anniversary, we affirm our commitment to the Integration Process and our Caribbean Leaders, in the confident expectation that all obstacles and challenges will be overcome, so that the Community will be enabled to play an even greater role in the lives of all of the citizens of this our Caribbean Region.