|
|
|
|
Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago - I wish first of all to thank the organizers, sponsors and coordinators of this seminal event for inviting the Prime Minister of The Bahamas to participate in this forum. He deeply regrets that due to events at home he is unable to attend and has asked me to fill in for him as a sign of the firm commitment and support which he has for the region and its success.
Indeed he spoke here at the University of the West Indies just over a year ago on 7th April 2014 on the very subject so the subject is one which is near and dear to him.
In that speech he advanced several thoughts about the past and about the future and why The Bahamas believes so strongly in this region. I wish to repeat some of what he said as the back drop to where we are going today. I quote:
“If I may be permitted a brief personal intervention here, my association with the region goes way back to the days when I was an athlete. As fate would have it, I became the second Bahamian to win a medal in international track and field competition when I medalled in the triple jump at the CAC Championships in Jamaica in 1962.
“I was first selected to represent The Bahamas at the West Indies Federation Games in Jamaica in 1960. Lester Bird, a former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who was a classmate of the late Bahamian sports icon, Thomas A Robinson at the University of Michigan, played a major role in my success as an athlete.
“Lester Bird, a long jumper and Tommy Robinson, a sprinter, had come to The Bahamas for their final preparations for the games. While training with The Bahamas team, Lester observed me jumping and told Tommy Robinson that he had seen a young man who was not on the team jumping, and it appeared to him that I was as good or better than those athletes who had been selected. A special 'jump off' was arranged, which led to my selection to the team, and the rest as they say is history!
“Lester and I struck up a lifelong friendship which carried through our time as law students in England, and which endures to this day.
“Throughout my time as a law student in the UK I had the opportunity to develop many such friendships with other contemporaries from the region.
“I should perhaps also mention that there was even a time when a valiant effort was made by a group of Caribbean students to make me into a steel band player!
“This group of students included Compton Bourne (who went from a PhD student to becoming the Principal of this UWI St Augustine campus and then President of the Caribbean Development Bank). However, despite their best efforts, I never made my mark in music. Having been relegated to the bass, I was told by my Caribbean friends that it appeared as though my left hand did not know what my right hand was doing!
“Moving now to a wider canvas, throughout the years, I have worked with Caribbean leaders as a Minister of the Bahamian government on a range of issues relating to health, sports, culture and tourism.
“As Prime Minister, I have encouraged the ministers of my Cabinet to encourage a Caricom-wide perspective. It just makes sense to do so. In making these exhortations, I have followed the remit established by the distinguished founding father of our nation, the late Sir Lynden Pindling. Indeed it was he who on the 4th July, 1983 – more than 30 years ago - signed the official instruments to make The Bahamas a part of Caricom. Later Sir Lynden Pindling signed the Grand Anse Declaration committing The Bahamas further to Caricom.
“I wish to recall, in part, the announcement made on 29th June 1983 by the Bahamas Information Services about The Bahamas joining Caricom and I quote:
“Caricom is the principal institution of Caribbean integration and cooperation and is responsible for the consolidation and strengthening of the bonds which have historically existed among Caribbean people.
“It represents the common determination of the government of Caricom countries to fulfill the hopes and aspirations of their peoples for full employment and improvement standards of work and living.
“Caricom is the medium through which concerned governments expect to attain most rapidly the optimum utilization of available human and natural resources of the region by accelerated, coordinated and sustained economic development, particularly through the exercise of permanent sovereignty over the natural resources by the efficient operation of common services and functional cooperation in the social cultural education and technological fields; and by a common front in relation to the external world.
“Although The Bahamas will be joining the Caribbean Community it will not have membership in the Caribbean Common market which is a separate organ of the Community established under an annex to the treaty.
“There are a number of institutions associated with the Caribbean Community of which The Bahamas is a member or has participated in for a number of years. Some of these associate institutions include the Caribbean Development Bank, which The Bahamas joined in 1969; The University of the West Indies at which Bahamians have studied and which now maintains the faculty of hotel management training in The Bahamas and the Council of Legal Education."
“Let me leave you with these thoughts by way of summary:
“The Bahamas is part of this region. We have worked together with the region and will continue to work within the context of the region on a broad range of issues.
The Bahamas supports common approaches toward attracting trade, investment and development of the region utilizing what the Foreign Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has called convergence: the coming together of our numbers and our pooled sovereignty, research and development, outreach beyond the region and the use of the private public partnership.
“The Bahamas believes that investment in our young people in their training, in the enhancement of their talents in sports and in culture will inure to the greater benefit of the region.
“In a line, it simply makes sense.
It has always been an enormous pleasure to visit with you in Trinidad and Tobago. I have been to this twin island republic now five times within the last year.
“It goes without saying that I see a positive future for the Caricom region with The Bahamas being an integral part of working together for the good of all our peoples and for our mutual benefit and development.”
End of quote
Since that statement last year, it has become the privilege of The Bahamas to become the Chair of Caricom. The Prime Minister thought to use our chairmanship to support the general themes which he espoused in that address and amongst those you addressed today: the implementation deficit, the development of agriculture, the cooperation in tourism, climate change, the knowledge economy, the development of sports and culture and more generally human development.
In that sense, The Bahamas is at the point where it says to this forum as to the development of our region: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend"
We believe that the future of this region is bright. We believe we have the capacity to chart a course for a bright economic future and we are ready and engaged to meet the tasks ahead.
Thank you very much indeed.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
