Says Secretary General Dr. Edwin Carrington
CARICOM Secretary General, Dr. Edwin Carrington has said that the profile of the regional community was “raised considerably” during the past year.

He made this remark during opening remarks at the end of year press conference at the CARICOM Secretariat, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara.

Noting that the importance of the mass media in the integration movement cannot be overstated, he said, “Today through you, I share with the people of our region my appraisal of the state of affairs within our community as we push ahead with substantive elements of the integration process in the face of the adverse global financial and economic crisis, which has had severe implications on the economic position of our Member States as well as for the process of integration itself”.

He noted that twenty years after the historic meeting of Heads of Government in 1989, leaders used the opportunity last July in Guyana at the 30th regular meeting to do stock-taking.

“They were unanimous in the assessment of the gains made by the integration movement in the past 20 years,” he stated.

He said in particular, the leaders noted the fact that the single market, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), and other institutions such as the CARICOM Competition Commission and the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ), are all fully functioning bodies today.

“Their evaluation was to be confirmed by the audit of the single market implementation which was undertaken by the Secretariat, and was reported to the CSME (Caribbean Single Market and Economy) convocation in Barbados last October,” he stated.

He declared, “The profile of the community was raised considerably in the past year with two successful international summits staged in Trinidad and Tobago”, referring to the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting last November and the Fifth Summit of the Americas, in April.

The Secretary General further stated that both Chairmen of the regional community for the year, Prime Minister of Belize, Mr. Dean Barrow, and President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo, also did “their part in raising the profile of the community”, Prime Minister Barrow particularly at the Fifth Summit of the Americas and the United Nations high level summit on global economic and financial crisis, and President Jagdeo with his special contribution to the global climate change debate.

“Overall, I would say that our community has gone through a year of consolidation as we sought to stave off and limit the worst effects of the global crisis,” he asserted.

Other members also gave brief highlights on the various areas under their responsibility, including Ambassador Colin Granderson, Assistant Secretary General of Foreign and Community Relations; Ambassador Irwin La Rocque, Assistant Secretary General of Trade and Economic Integration; Assistant Secretary General, Human and Social Development, Mr. Edward Greene; and Deputy CARICOM Secretary General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite.