 Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre delivered his inaugural address to CARICOM at the 43rd Regular Meeting of Heads of Government in Paramaribo, Suriname on July 3, 2022. Hon. Pierre reaffirmed St. Lucia's allegiance to the regional bloc and also advocated for solutions that will bring about meaningful and tangible improvements to the framework of the CARICOM. I want to assure you that I come to the Prime Minister of St. Lucia in the firm and a binding belief in CARICOM. Mr. Chairman, my regional philosophy has been shaped by the small population and size of the country that I lead, but I stand here to affirm that St. Lucia will always be less than it can be without CARICOM. Whenever we are faced by external challenges, not of our own making, I am always guided by the words of the late Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arfa, that we should face it and fix it. I am also guided by the warning of our respected colleague and distinguished Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, that we shall avoid the reflective learned helplessness, which arguably stems from our heritable colonial consciousness. So colleagues, I intend to use the responsibility that people of St. Lucia have placed on my shoulder to engage constructively with you and the CARICOM Secretariat and to join your collective experiences to advance the cause of CARICOM. In this regard, I pledge to engage energetically within CARICOM. In the face of external uncertainties affecting member states, the Prime Minister addressed the more pressing challenges impeding CARICOM's long envisioned pathway to holistic regional integration. Honourable pair espoused optimism for CARICOM's potential and underscored the region's collective intellectual wherewithal capable of devising and implementing workable strategies and models to make the regional bloc more agile, flexible and responsive to the social and economic needs of its citizens. In closing, Honourable Pier implored his colleague heads of government to prioritize the well-being of the people who elected them to serve and to demonstrate the change CARICOM and its inhabitants need to forge a unified front. My dream is for CARICOM that never forgets that the only reason why we have committed ourselves to public life is to serve the people and so we must put the people first in all that we do. My friends, let us be honest and acknowledge that CARICOM's image throughout our region needs to improve. That must change and change now. Too much time has already been lost. We must begin that vital change by being the change the people have for a very long time been crying for. We must not only talk unity, we must demonstrate to our people that we are together, confronted by similar problems that can be resolved only by a united CARICOM. From the Office of the Prime Minister, Rihanna Yazudo