St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas (l) and Secretary General of the CARICOM Community, His EXcellency Dr. Edward Carrington. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

So says CARICOM's Secretary General, His Excellency Dr. Edward Carrington in his New Year's message to Caribbean nationals.

He expressed confidence that the Caribbean Community has erected a solid foundation towards achieving its goals as 2006 was a year of undoubted progress with far-reaching implications for Caribbean integration.

"It began on an historic note with the coming into being of the CARICOM Single Market on 1 January, with the entry into force of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas. This was a very significant milestone in the journey on which the Founding Fathers of CARIFTA embarked over a generation ago," said Dr. Carrington.

He said 2007 "holds great promise but requires even deeper commitment from all of us."

Dr. Carrington noted that having as a people taken that giant step to forge a Single Market and Economy, unprecedented among developing countries, "it is incumbent on us to discharge our responsibilities with diligence, urgency and sensitivity, to ensure effective implementation. In that regard, the time must surely have come for a definitive decision to be taken on the long, outstanding issue of enhanced governance of the Community."

~~adz:left~~"Therefore, apart from consolidating the fledgling Single Market, this year we are determined to press on and complete the framework for the Single Economy by 2008. To achieve this however, a lot of dedicated work and intense collaboration among the institutions of the Community and involving all sectors of the society - government, private sector, labour and civil society - lie ahead of us. Let us therefore, hold fast, be resolute and keep the focus as we build a competitive single economy," said Dr. Carrington.

He noted that the Single Economy will include among other things, "closer monetary and financial co-operation, integration of our capital markets, common fiscal and investment policies, changes in our corporate structures, harmonised taxation structures as well as exchange and interest rate policies - all resulting in higher levels of income and more jobs."

"A critical element of this process is a properly planned and effectively implemented outreach programme. This has already begun with Belize and will continue throughout the New Year to all Member States. For indeed the success of the integration movement will be measured by the extent to which the citizens can genuinely refer to it as our Caribbean Community," said the Caribbean's Senior Civil Servant.

Dr. Carrington noted that in July 2006, following democratic elections, Haiti was welcomed back into the Councils of the Community. "Since then we have been working assiduously, together with the Haitians, to fully re-integrate that country into the Community. To that end, we will soon be re-opening the CARICOM Representational Office in Port-au-Prince, as well as celebrating with the Haitian people, the 200th Anniversary of their Parliament. 

This coincides with the observance of the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of one of the most degrading episodes in human history, the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Community will also participate in these observances," he said.

He said that the instability swirling around the global environment should drive "us as a people to redouble our efforts to build for ourselves and our children a stronger Caribbean Community."

"For it is only as such a unit that we can brave those winds, a realisation that has informed our approach to our external economic and trade negotiations, especially that for a beneficial Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union," said Dr. Carrington.

The CARICOM Secretary General said that 2007 will see an unprecedented regional initiative with the proposed CARICOM/United States Conference on the Caribbean in Washington D.C.

"This promises to herald an exciting reaffirmation of our relationship with one of the Community's most important traditional partners, the United States of America," said Dr. Carrington, who noted that it is also within such a united framework that the Caribbean is facing up to the challenge posed to its people by the HIV/AIDS virus.~~adz:Right~~

The Secretariat, the Secretary General noted has joined in this struggle by the wider Caribbean, but despite the continuing success of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), the situation is such that there is no basis for complacency.

"Nor is there any, with regard to that other pervasive Community social ill - crime. Both require the strongest and most sustained, concerted counter measures for their eradication," he said.

Dr. Carrington is of the view that a unique reward emanating from the

 common approach is the opportunity to stage the Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean Region in 2007. "By mid-February, functioning as a single domestic space, we would be welcoming the world to our shores as we host, compete - and hopefully - win, the Cricket World Cup 2007. This is most fitting as cricket is our oldest and certainly one of our most successful symbols of regional integration, along with the University of the West Indies. These are symbols of unity we must treasure," he said.

Dr. Carrington said that Caribbean people must also grasp this opportunity to ensure that the World Cup, the first to be held in such a large number of different venues - nine - is truly the best ever.

"We must also take advantage of the beneficial legacy which it bequeaths.

Likewise, we must use the opportunity to show the world that the Caribbean, quite apart from being a unique and desirable tourist destination, has people with the organisational skill to successfully stage a world-class event," said Dr. Carrington.

He said the event would no doubt provide a boost to the Community in its efforts at moving the integration arrangements forward and this would be just reward for the strenuous efforts of the region's leaders and their officials.

Dr. Carrington said that the Caribbean Heads of Government, under the leadership of the two Chairmen of the past year - the Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis and the Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, played critical roles in ensuring the deepening of the integration process in 2006.

"To Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, our Chairman from January to June 2007, and the Rt. ~~adz:Right~~

Honourable Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, Chairman from July to December 2007, we extend our best wishes and fullest support as you assume the mantle of leadership of the Community,"said Dr. Carrington.

Addressing the people of the Caribbean Community, Dr. Carrington said: "you have built over the past 34 years the longest existing and one of the most successful integration movements among developing nations - despite its continuing shortcomings."

"It is an achievement of which we can all be justly proud. In many ways however, the journey has just begun. And it is a journey that, to be worthwhile, must lead us to a viable and prosperous Caribbean Community, one worthy of the highest aspirations of all its people, particularly the youth.

And that is indeed our aim," said the Secretary General.

He said that as the people of the region, leave 2006 and enter 2007, "we must pay tribute to three significant contributors who departed the scene in the past year, having made sterling contributions to the Caribbean and to the world in general. I refer to the former United Nations Secretary General His Excellency Kofi Annan, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson and the former "regional airline" BeeWee!

It is with these thoughts and commitment that on behalf of the Caribbean Community, as its Secretary-General, I welcome the New Year and wish the entire Community a very productive and prosperous 2007."