Preserving independence, protecting integration our mission – President Granger tells CARICOM
.[su_pullquote]”We are committed to continue the process of actualising the aspirations of our visionary founders to bring real independence, real integration and real happiness to our peoples.” – President David Granger [/su_pullquote]The virtues and values of national independence and Regional integration, which inspired the founding fathers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) were as relevant now as they were then, and would continue as a guide for generations to come, His Excellency David Granger, President of Guyana said Thursday 2 July, 2015
In his address at the opening of the 36th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Bridgetown, Barbados, the President traced the history of the integration movement and underscored Guyana’s commitment to “this great regional project”.
It was right here that it all started. Fifty years ago on 4th July, 1965, Antigua’s Vere Bird, Barbados’s Errol Barrow and Guyana’s Forbes Burnham — three busy ‘Bs’ — met here in Bridgetown. Their intuition and initiative led, five months later, to Dickenson Bay which led to the establishment of the Caribbean Free Trade Association which in turn led to Chaguaramas and the creation of the Caribbean Community on 4th July 1973. The rest is history.
None of the three countries was as yet Independent in 1965 but the Premiers knew the value of Independence. None belonged to any formal federation, but they understood the need for integration. Here we are today, their heirs and successors, with a mandate, a mission, to preserve that ‘independence’ and protect that ‘integration’ against the danger of domination and disintegration.
Read the Address by H.E. David Arthur Granger (Opening 36th Heads of Government Conference) Bds.
The CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting is being held under the theme Vibrant Societies, Resilient Economies. It concludes on Saturday 4 July. 2015