BRIDGETOWN – Chairman of the Conference of the CARICOM Heads of Government the Rt. Hon Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Barbados said that the goal of perfecting regional integration must remain paramount for the Caribbean Community. He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 36th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM in Bridgetown, Barbados on Thursday. The Meeting is being held under the theme Vibrant Societies, Resilient Economies.
There will never come a time when we will be able to fold our arms and proclaim now the work is o’er the integration movement is perfect. We cannot and should not relax the goal of making our integration movement a perfect one,” Prime Minister Stuart said.
The Barbados Prime Minister said that it was the responsibility of CARICOM leaders to “raise the gaze of our people to new horizons.” He said that in a structured manner, idle hands should be mobilised around the idle lands in the Region.
Pointing to successes in various areas such as sports and culture,the Prime Minister stated that the vibrant societies in CARICOM had put it in the favourable position of being able to undertake with confidence the task of building resilient economies. He said the Caribbean was a civilisation which had always had much to share with the rest of the world and small size had never determined the capacity of a people to nudge history in any particular direction.
In closing Prime Minister Stuart reiterated his message on integration quoting CARICOM founding father Dr. Eric Williams’ words on the occasion of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas: “All our strength is in our union, all our danger is in discord”.
