 Republic of Ghana and we are coming to you live as the opening or a precursor to the heads of government meeting as they will have several discussions along several thematic areas until Thursday. There are some notable persons already in attendance that would have already arrived here at the National Cultural Centre. We have the head of the UN Mission, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ghana, he's already here as well as the head of ICA, the British High Commissioner, the Argentine Ambassador, Private Sector Reps, Chinese Ambassador and just a few moments ago we saw the arrival of Ambassador Linder Thomas Greenfield, permanent representative of the United States, the United Nations and a member of the U.S. Cabinet. They're arriving as well as His Excellency Adela Joubir, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia. And of course in such an exciting time to be here in Ghana we have just wrapped up the International Energy Conference and the Supply Chain Expo which would have happened there at the Maria Hotel and that conference really brought together persons from across the region to discuss energy and as well the transformation across the Caribbean region as it relates to energy security and energy sustainability. We also had recently our 54th Republic Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony as well as our festivities following the day after which is our national money there in the form of a road parade happening along the route there in Georgetown. So it has been quite a packed week here in Georgetown and we continue to have these highlights as the year unfolds. So today we are here as the 46th Republic. The regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government is happening. It's expected to start there at 17 hours this afternoon from the National Cultural Centre. And of course it marks a significant milestone in regional cooperation and integration efforts here as we continue to push this agenda of transformation, this agenda of regional integration as well. We can see members of the government as well as members of the opposition all arriving here and coming to witness the opening ceremony here from the National Cultural Centre. And we will continue to bring you this event in its entirety until the end and even after the fact all of the meetings which will be happening at the Maria Hotel there in Kingston Georgetown arriving or just arrive is the Prime Minister of Grenada and he is making his way here in to the National Cultural Centre heading up to where meet his colleagues from the region. So yes we just saw the arrival of the Honourable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada exiting the vehicle now is none other than his Excellency Chandrika Prasad Santoki, President of the Republic of Suriname. We know the Prime Minister rather of Grenada and Tobago. He would have been here for some time. He was here since the Energy Conference in Supply Jane Expo. So he is still with us and we welcome him with open arms as one of our leaders here in Karikam. So as we continue to share here with you we take a little look at history as it relates to Karikam here in Guyana and the wider field. Just last year Karikam would have celebrated 50 years. Just last year Karikam would have celebrated 50 years of regional integration arriving now is other Ministers of the Government. We have the Honourable and Honourable Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce joined by the Senior Minister and the Opposite President in Responsibility for Finance and Public Service. Honourable Minister Ashne Singh, President of the Republic of Suriname. Established in 1958 the West Indies iteration would have been that body of regional integration before Karikam. Back in 1958 the West Indies iteration it comprised of 10 territories of an Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat and then Sincates, Nives and Anguela. Also arriving the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs under Honourable Manuel Nandao and he has been escorted there into the venue. So even after the Middle East Federation we saw a rift of most persons coming into it which is the Caribbean Creature and Association that was founded by Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago on the 15th of December 1965. With that they would have signed the Littlinson-Beta Agreement that agreed and established in the Caribbean Creature and Association. They were joined on July 1, 1968 by Juanita, Grenada, Sincates, Nives and Anguela that is Lansing, Nives, Anguela, Sincates, Nusa and Sincates and the Grenadines. So that's a bit of history as we look back. Making her way into the venue as well is Secretary-General of Caricota that Dr. Carla Barnett and she makes her way up stairs to join the other heads of government who would have already arrived at the venue this afternoon. There's a wonderful type here in the capital city. You can also hear in the background a fusion and see there on your screens a fusion of drums mixing both African and the Tassadrums as well. So it's creating a wonderful atmosphere as on boogers of various individuals from the Democratic Committee will arrive here at the National Cultural Center to witness the opening ceremony. As we continue to share the history here of Garret Company, we would have known that joining now is the Honorable Minister of Home Affairs, Will Smith, who is making his way into the venue. See also the Prime Minister, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Elizabeth Harper. Yes, so let us take a walk back on how Carcam was established. This was through the Treaty of Chakoramasque, which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, and Shidana Tobago, and that came into effect on August 1, 1973. So as we continue to take a look back, you can remember the rich hillstone history of Garret Company. Many efforts that would have been made to ensure that we continue to enjoy the rich hill integration and push cooperation across the entire Carcam region. We also see that from the West Indies Federation during its brief existence, there were no more fundamental issues that would have been dated. It's you have strengthened in the Federation. Unfortunately, the Federation would collapse back in January 1962, and from then we just saw that we had Carcam imported, which was here to represent all across the region. So we are still witnessing some arrivals of special invited guests here from the National Cultural Center. We're also live across all of the SCN platforms, television, all in seven of our radio stations, streaming online at ncmcana.com, as well on our social media pages and the official government and social media pages as well. So when we think about Carcam and some of the many efforts that we were able to enjoy at this seat, making its way into the event right now is the Prime Minister of Canada and the Mayor, Dr. Rauley, as he makes his way up to join the heads of government that are here in Georgia. So as we continue to share some of the highlights that we would enjoy as Guyanese and also regional partners through Carcam, through the establishment of Carcam, there was the establishment of the Caribbean Development Bank and the CDB is really a regional institution, a financial institution which was established on an agreement signed on October 18, 1969, back in Kingston, Jamaica and entered into force on January 26, 1970. Making its way in just a few moments ago is the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Utah, as well as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag, and Minister of Agriculture, Sulfikar Mustafa. So we can see still a queue there of heads of government, members of the diplomatic community, special invitees and all making their way into the National Cultural Centre to witness the opening ceremony of the 46th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Carcam. Joining us now is the Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Suzanne Rodrigues, as she makes her way to join her colleague ministers there in the venue and the Minister there of Housing and Water, Colin Crowe, makes his way as well into the venue. Continue to share with you some of the highlights that we would have enjoyed from being members of Carcam and continued input in Carcam. There was also the establishment of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union that was established on August 15, 1970, where it is a regional organisation that promotes cooperation and collaboration among broadcasting organisations in the Caribbean. The CBU aims to enhance the development and professionalism of the broadcasting industry in the region and to foster the exchange for programming and technical expertise. Being along at the Carcam Secretary-at was office here in Guyana, started from humble beginnings. The Secretary-at was located at Carl Green House here in Georgia, that was the residence of Mr Fred Kozier, Secretary-General of the Caribbean Free Trade Association, but it is now housed at Turca in Greater Georgia in a massive building there, just opposite the Artichoke Conference Centre there in Liliandal. We would have also witnessed the creation of the Caribbean Examinations Council, that is CXC, that is CXC and that was established on January 23, 1972 and it is an educational organisation that provides standardized examinations and certifications for secondary school students in the Caribbean. The first Karifesta and Karifesta was the Caribbean Festival of Arts and it is commonly known as Karifesta. The first Karifesta was actually held here in Guyana and it is an international multicultural event organised on a periodic basis by the countries of the Caribbean. The main purpose is to gather artists, musicians, authors and to exhibit the folkloric and artistic manifestations of the Caribbean and the Latin American region. The first Karifesta being held in Guyana was held under the theme the artist in society with special reference to the third world and if we take a look back at Karifesta in that year we would know as well a popular place here in Georgetown called the Karifesta Avenue and that was actually named in honour of that festival and it was first called Kellidam so once one knew about Kellidam making his way in as former president of the cooperative republic of Guyana Donald Ramitar and he makes his way into the venue and yes as I was mentioning previously called Kellidam Karifesta Avenue was named in the honour that was facilitated through the Ministry of Information's National History and Arts Council and as well festival city for many persons who might not be aware festival city was also established during that period of Karifesta in south Rheinfeld so it was made in order to accommodate persons who would have been arriving for Karifesta with various artists and as well dignitaries in those days the head of government also established a quasi cabinet quasi cabinet and that arrangement with a view of further advancing specific issues and areas within the community the decision to establish this quasi cabinet was taken at the their seventh special meeting that is back in October 1999 held in Trinidad and Tobago convened to deliberate on a vision for the future of the region within the quasi cabinet individual heads of government have responsibility for critical areas of the community development see also a representative there from Jamaica making her way in to the venue to meet with the other heads of government and to go through some of the portfolio allocations for the quasi cabinet we have the honourable Gaston Alson Brown there from Antigone Bar Bureau with the responsibility of services honourable Philip Edward Davis from Bahamas the responsibility for tourism including the land use ACPEU partnership and honourable John Prasino from Belize with the responsibility for justice and governance honourable Roosevelt Scarich from Dominica with responsibility for labour including interactivity movement of skills honourable Dickon Mitchell from Grenada with responsibility of science and technology including information and communications and his Excellency Dr Mohammed Irfan Ali from Guyana responsibility for agriculture agriculture diversification and food security getting the way out of the vehicle at this time from Bahamas the honourable Philip Edward Davis as he makes his way into the National Cultural Centre to join his colleagues heads of government and he his responsibility once more is for tourism which includes land crews ACPEU partnership agreement provisions and so on as we continue the most honourable Andrew Paul Ness from Jamaica's responsibility of external trade negotiations and Philip here from St Lucia responsible for sustainable development including environmental disaster management and water honourable Dr Terrence Michael True taking his way in here now as he heads upstairs from Dominica and we see Honourable Mia Amor Motley from Barbados Prime Minister of Barbados and some might even argue some heritage from Guyana loved by all in Guyana as well but responsibility of transport his Excellency Chandrika Santoki Prasad from Suriname with the responsibility of community development and cultural cooperation including culture gender youth and sport industrial policy and Dr Honourable Keith Rowley from Trinidad and Tobago with the responsibility of energy and security arriving now from St Kitts and in Nephis we see the Honourable Dr Terrence Michael True as he makes his way up to join Colleen and some government and as we continue to have various health of government make their way here at the venue special invite to his ministers of government from the government of Guyana arriving now the minister of natural resources Honourable Vikram Bharat accompanied by the ambassador and as we continue to share with you some of the highlights from Karakam the members of Karakam the Karakam single market and economy is an integrated development strategy envisioned at the time meeting of the Conference of Health of Government which took place in July 1989 in Furnada there were many discussions surrounding how to move forward as a single market economy ensuring that every member from across the karmine region is able to benefit from work initiatives business development and so forth so thus the CSME was formed and ensures that it is a single market and the establishment of a common external tariff as well across the karmine region so we will see that in this drummer is coming from all parts of the country to bring a flair or a taste of what Guyana has to offer and wrapping up there from our masher manifestivities it is pertinent that we continue to remind all that we are hospitable people and will ensure that everyone that visits Guyana is able to leave with a taste of what we have to offer as we continue to share with you some of the highlights or some of the benefits that we would have enjoyed since being members of Karakam the common external tariff which most persons might commonly know it as the CET it's a single tariff rate agreed upon by all the members of the Karakam community on imports of a product from outside the Karakam and this would have taken effect at 12 a.m on June 15 1991 so there we saw that the CET now governs all imports across the karmine region and it really augurs well for businesses within the Karakam once we are able to supply something within Karakam you are able to get it at a very very different rate than you're able to once it's imported it encourages that regional collaboration and cooperation that we have been referencing since the commencement of this broadcast and even that you see in your everyday life of course we also would like to mention CETA and there as you can see on your screens from Barbados as well ambassador encouraging the drummers to welcome ambassador there Karakam ambassador there in Barbados as he makes his way into the venue accompanied by two of his colleagues as we share with you the Caribbean export development agency CETA now known as Caribbean export that was established in 1996 Caribbean export is a regional trade and investment promotion agency that operates on behalf of the 15 member states of the Caribbean community its main objective is to enhance the competitiveness of the Caribbean businesses and promote their products and services internationally arriving now from St Vincent and the Grenadines as he exits the vehicle that remains a zone of peace from the remains a region of peace to lock it up that challenge that we had to overcome from Venezuela center file cooperation agreement as he played a tremendous role just recently there being the official interlocutor for Diana between Diana and Venezuela on those claims that were being made by Venezuela at that time and continues to be part of ensuring that the peace is maintained in the Caribbean region after convening that meeting in St Vincent and the Grenadines and coming from it the declaration of Argyle we are yet to see the arrival of the chairman of the Caribbean community as well as Guyana's presidentist excellency Dr. Mohamed Erfan Ali just a few moments ago the one guy on a digital initiative president spoke there at the Argyle conference center so he will be a few moments along and we'll be able to commence the opening ceremony of the 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government highlights from is important the two ones of our curriculum passport and the heads of government would have agreed today's students of a curriculum passport by member states as a defining symbol of regionalism the introduction of the curriculum passport is also a part of measures to promote hassle free travel for curriculum nationals curriculum passports the national passport which is being issued in accordance with an agreement format for inter-regional and extra regional travel on the cover is the noble of curriculum and the words Caribbean community a coat of arms and the name of the member state are also featured on the cover and the curriculum passport creates awareness that curriculum nationals aren't nationals of the community as well as awareness of that curriculum as well as for that specific country in 2005 Serena was the first member state to have issued the curriculum passport that specifically happened on January 7 2005 and followed by Vincent and the Grenadines in 2005 as well on the 20th of June Saint Kitts and Nevis on the 25th of October 2005 and Dominica on the 14th of December 2005 the anti-non-barmudian issued a new passport on January 16 2006 and on the 16th of January 2007 Saint Lucia became the sixth member state to have introduced the passport followed by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago on January 24 2007 Grenada on January 29 2007 and Guyana on the 13th of July 2007 Barbados on October 1 2007 Jamaican bellies would have introduced the curriculum passport on January 2 2007. His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Erkan Ali President of the Republic of Guyana President Ali will be during this evening's program He is joined by First Lady of the Republic. Ministers of the Heads of Government His Excellency will make the feature address at this evening's opening ceremony and also we will hear remarks from the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica as the outgoing chairman of Carica some artists make their way in to add to the cultural showcase which we will have during the program and of course we will also be able to hear remarks from the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community Dr. Carla Barnett in just a few we will hand over to our Mistress of the Ceremonies Michelle Abraham Ali who will take us through the entire program in the venue there at the National Cultural Center Main stage and as we continue to remind you of some of the of course as we continue to remind you of some of the special guests that are in attendance here we see the Honourable Shirley Ayoka Bochwe that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana as well joined by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in Saudi Arabia His Excellency Adel Javier and we saw the arrival of Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield permanent representative of the United Nations of the U.S. United Nations as well as a U.S. cabinet member and we are also seeing several persons from the United Arab Emirates specifically the envoy of a foreign minister that is Mr. Omar Shahabedin and we saw the arrival of some of the heads of government there some would have arrived before we went live with this broadcast about we will see they're representing the heads of government at this 46 regular meeting of the conference it is a packed auditorium there in the National Cultural Center persons from all walks of life ordinary Guyanese are being here to witness this significant meeting the opening of this significant meeting of course all of the events from tomorrow will happen at the Guyana Maria Hotel where the heads of government will meet to discuss along several thematic areas as they continue to push the agenda of regional integration and to ensure that we are able to push forward or forge ahead as one Karikam region and we continue to remind you that some of the highlights or some of the things that we would have been able to capture just this past week here in Georgetown we saw the Ghana Energy Conference and Supply Chain Expo concluding there as we brought together regional partners international partners to discuss energy and that pathway for regional energy integration also the IDB group there held they wrapped up their 12th annual consultation with the governors of the countries comprising of the Caribbean Country Department yesterday that was at the Ghana Maria Hotel the flag raising ceremony Dr Keith Rowley being a guest of honor there at our flag raising ceremony and then we had Mashramani and his excellency currently chairs the Caribbean community and we have seen president Ali made a make an aggressive approach as it relates to agriculture in the region vision 25 by 2025 is one such initiative that he has been aggressively pushing through the agri-investment forum and expo president Ali has pioneered or really reinvigorated how much agriculture means to us not only in Guyana or Guyana becoming the food basket of the Caribbean but across the region food security is essential food security is now and it is critical for our sustainability so through the component of vision 25 by 2025 it is expected that by the year 2025 we will be food secure as a Caribbean region and we have seen efforts being made we have seen bilateral cooperation agreements multilateral cooperation agreements as well being phased out there just a few days ago president Ali would have spoken to the private sector and given them that charge let us see how we can push food security and ensure that the region is well fed and we will also be seeing as a guest of honor not only for this conference but as well for the days ahead of the president of Brazil of the he will be a guest of honor and he will join the conference later this week with other dignitaries from Brazil Lula da Silva president Lula da Silva will be in Guyana and of course we continue to remind all we continue to remind all as we see some individuals they're making their way down to make their way into the venue first lady Ari Ali as well as the prime minister of the cooperative republic of Guyana making their way down to enter the main auditorium here at the national cultural center the spouses of the various heads of government will be heading into the main auditorium to take their seats as the parade of nations will take place shortly where the various heads of government will be escorted in sequence on the stage to mark this 46th meeting of course there has been that caricum song that will be sung or performed it is something that you can expect at each caricum event that really speaks to the values and the principles of caricum as being that one caricum region prime minister they're taking his seat in the main auditorium as well as the wives of visiting heads of government officials so other key agenda items will include the caricum single market and economy the progress towards implementing free movement for all community nationals by March 31 that is as mandated at the previous meeting and we must talk a little bit about the transformation that we are seeing here in Guyana under the leadership of the president and it will certainly be striking to caricum heads who would have visited in recent years coming back to Guyana to see how much Guyana's landscape has truly changed and president Ali has been pioneering many initiatives here to ensure that our country is improved tremendously at this 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government of caricum which is happening here the opening ceremony at the national cultural center and at the daily meetings will be happening at the Guyana maria hotel the thematic focus of this year's conference is CSME climate resilience agriculture food and nutrition security energy security regional security climate change and climate financing global and hemispheric issues they will also discuss the upcoming 2024 ICC men's T20 cricket world cup regional transportation we know president Ali just said recently that that regional transportation service that the agreement which would have been made between among Trinidad and Tobago Barbados and Guyana that will come on stream in a few months so we will see more convenient and alternative forms of regional travel pushing and really foraging ahead what regional integration is for this region there will be discussions as well on reparations we know that has been something for quite some time that we've seen as a topic of discussion reparations as well as foreign and community relations there will be cross cutting issues discuss and that will include youth and youth development civil society and caricum of private sector organizations we have seen that president Ali has made a tremendous effort as it relates to forging or encouraging cooperation bilateral cooperation multi lateral cooperation with other caricum countries to ensure that the private sector is able to benefit tremendously really push ahead at the agenda the business sessions of the conference will be held at the Ghana Marriott Hotel on the 26th and 28th of February and then on the 27th the heads of government there will be a retreat for the heads of government there in the meantime we will enjoy a bit of rendition there from the Ghana police force back actually not yet it's going to be here at the conference will be arriving later this evening Prime Minister dear of St. Lucia Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonzalez Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines His Excellency Chandrika Prasad Santuqi Prime President of the Republic of Suriname Dr. the Honourable Keith Rowley Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Honourable E. David Burt Premier of Bermuda Honourable Dr. Natalio Duitli of the British Virgin Islands also arriving later this evening Honourable Arlington Musgrove Minister of Immigration and Border Services Turks and Caicos Islands and His Excellency Dr. Muhammad Irfan Ali President of the Cooperative Republic of Ghana will be the last to enter the main auditorium there once more we have a several special guests here to be part of the heads of government conference and we continue will continue to give you coverage across all of the NCN platforms for the entirety of this conference see a packed auditorium sitting in anticipation to await the arrival of the heads of government for the 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government of the Caribbean community this goes until February 28 right here in Georgetown Ghana just a glimpse of the program we will see the national anthem of the cooperative republic of Ghana being done and then we will have that followed by the Karikam song there will be prayers as well as remarks from her Excellency Dr. Carla Barnett Secretary General of the Caribbean community culture followed by a cultural item remarks by the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica an outgoing chairman of the conference of heads of government of the Caribbean community that as well will be followed by a cultural item and then a feature address by his Excellency Dr. Muhammad Irfan Ali President of the cooperative republic of Ghana and chairman of the conference of heads of government of the Caribbean community after which there's going to be a close to the opening ceremony and the departure of the heads of government so as we share with you the Karikam song is actually the official patriotic song of the community which celebrates the history the culture and identity of the people of the Caribbean it is to be used primarily at ceremonial and community events in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Karikam in 13 the Karikam Secretary launched a song competition to encourage the participation of all Karikam member states in composing a song that would inspire regional pride and unity celebrate our diversity and highlight our shared vision the composition celebrating Karikam by Miss Michelle Henderson a highly acclaimed recording artist from the Commonwealth of Dominica was selected by a regional panel of judges as the official Karikam song a unique feature of the song that celebrates our linguistic diversity is the spoken language near from the Lesser Antilles and Surinam is there it has the tango that punctuate the rhythmic bridge the song was launched at the 35th meeting of the conference of heads of government which is held in Antigua Barbuda from July 1 to 4 in 2014 the National Anthem this evening will be sung by Faith Carica and Calvin Burnett the drumming will be used to allow the heads of government and their flags will be accompanied by school children and that they will enter from the same drum fusion that you would have heard earlier. Karikam song will be performed this evening by a group of individuals Alessandra Rumson, Omaya Hall, Simeon Rear Rock and Joel Doodnaught. We'll have several prayers from the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and indigenous faiths and communities and then we will hand you over to our emcees which would be Mishala Abraham Ali as well as Alex Graham for the opening ceremony of the conference of 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government here at the National Cultural Center and as they make as they make their way down led by the Secretary General of Karikam, Dr. Karikam. I remind you there her Excellency Dr. Karla Barnett, Secretary General of the Karabin community followed immediately by Honourable Gaston Brown, Prime Minister of Antigua Barbuda, Honourable Phillip Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Honourable Miam Amor Motley, Prime Minister of Barbados, Honourable Francis Fonska, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Education, Culture, Science and Technology at Belize, Honourable Gaston Alfonso Brown, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. And he is followed by the Honourable Phillip Edward Davis, Prime Minister of the Bahamas. Next Honourable Miam Amor Motley, Prime Minister of Barbados. Followed by the Honourable Francis Fonska, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade, Education, Culture, Science and Technology at Belize. We now welcome the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica. And he is followed by the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica. That should be the Honourable Dickon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada. And now we welcome Dr. the Honourable Ariel Honoré, Prime Minister of the Republic of Haiti. He is followed by Senator the Honourable Kamena Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica. Here comes Honourable Eastern Taylor Forell, Premier Montserrat. The Honourable Dr. Terence Michael Drew, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis. Honourable Alva Baptiste, Minister of External Affairs, International Trade, Civil Aviation and Diaspora, representing the Prime Minister of St. Lucia. He is followed by Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonzalez, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ladies and gentlemen, His Excellency Chandrika Pussaud Santoki, President of the Republic of Suriname. Dr. the Honourable Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. Honourable E. David Burt, Premier of Bermuda. Benito Wheatley, Special Envoy of the Premier of the British Virgin Islands. And His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. We now invite the heads of government to take their seats. As we invite on stage, Alessandra Ramson, Amaya Hall, Simeon, Ray Warham and Joel Doudnorth to perform for us this afternoon the Karikam Song. It was composed by Michelle Henderson from the Commonwealth of Dominica and it celebrates our history, our culture and identity as people of the Caribbean. To those gone before us, the heroes of the Reds and the Blacks and the two foes. Thank you. We now invite the heads of government to take their seats. And ladies and gentlemen, we'll ask that you now remain standing as prayers will be said in the Christian, Muslim and Hindu faiths and an Arakuna indigenous prayer by Audrey Robertson from the only Arakuna speaking village of Parima here in Guyana. Prayers will be offered this afternoon by Suresh Singh from the Hindu faith, Sheikh Mohen Al Haq from the Muslim faith and Pastor Mahendra Sharma of the Christian faith. Namaste everyone. Namaste simply means a divinity in me recognizes a divinity in you. Namaste. Please put your hands together, close your eyes and gently bow your heads. Bhaktaratinayashini, Viranji Hari Shavande, Kirti Prade, Akela Manuradde Mahade, Vidya Pradayani, Sariswati Naumi Nityam. Firstly, we pray to Lord Ganesh, O Lord, you are the giver of success, giver of good fortune. We pray that this event, the meeting of the heads of the Karikam, very successful, may blossom into wonderful fruits for the people of the region. Secondly, we pray to Mahasadiswati, the goddess who blesses us with intellect, knowledge, wisdom, the attribute to distinguish what is right from what is wrong. O mother, continue to inspire our leaders, continue to inspire our people, continue to try everyone in our Caribbean community. In the Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Verse 11 states, simply means by your sacrifice, by our sacrifices, the gods are pleased. The verse continues to state, by cooperation among humans, prosperity, great prosperity will gain among everyone. This afternoon, this evening, we are not only praying for a country here, Guyana, or our leaders, we are praying for all of the Karikam leaders, we pray for all the Karikam people as we put hands together, heads together, shoulders together, as we work together for prosperity, peace, and resilience, and finally, universal prayers. We pray to the one who grants goodness. The Yajna, the sacrifice should be completed auspiciously. We pray for the one for whom the Yajna, the sacrifice, is reformed. May the well-being to all, may peace to all, be fulfillment to all, may it be auspicious as to all. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God Almighty be with you. My prayer this afternoon is taken from the Holy Qur'an. Final revelation to Mankind, chapter 49 verse 13, which will be rendered in the Arabic language followed by the English translation. In the name of Allah, God Almighty, the Beneficent, the Merciful. O Mankind, we created you from a single male and female. We made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another, that you may not despise one another. Definitely, Allah, God Almighty, is all aware, all knowing. O Allah, God Almighty, we thank you for making possible this 46th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community. Our Lord, we thank you for choosing our beautiful country, Guyana, to host this meeting. We thank you for all the leaders who are gathered here in our beautiful country. O Allah, we thank you for blessing our President, His Excellency, Dr. Muhammad Irfan Ali, the host, and chair this important regional meeting. We pray for God Almighty to bless His Excellency with His guidance and protection as He chairs this meeting of August leaders from the region and beyond. We pray for God to bless all these leaders with wisdom to have fruitful discussions on the important issues in relation to food supply in the region, regional security, climate change, and regional trade, and free movement of all nationals. Bless them to collectively make wise decisions in the interests of the people whom they lead, to draw strength from our diversity and unite our people, guide them in their discussions and deliberations to make decisions which will benefit this generation and future ones, and to develop the region. Bless our leaders with the ability to preserve and promote peace justice, tolerance, and respect for all so we can retain our humanity and live with each other in peace, love, and harmony, thereby complimenting our beautiful surroundings. O Allah, our Lord, you have made us the best of your creation. You have provided us with fertile and beautiful land and for this we are grateful. Guide us to make the best use of this blessing of yours for food supply in the region. Bless us to gain the maximum benefit from these discussions for all the people of the region. O Allah, accept our prayer. Amen. That's good afternoon to everyone. Let us continue to acknowledge God present. Father, we thank you for your love, your mercy, your grace, your peace upon our lives. We thank you indeed that your word admonishes us that this is the day that you the Lord has made and you said let us rejoice and be glad in it. We thank you for your blessing. We thank you for that purpose, that privilege that we have gathered here this afternoon, my God. We pray that your Holy Spirit would continue to abide with us, my God. Your word instructs us, let us pray for those that are in authority. And we thank you Lord that we are doing that. We thank you for leaders of this Caribbean community, my God, as they gather here, my God. We pray that you would continue to give them wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, my God, as they strategize to make our region a better place. We pray that you would continue to grant them that wisdom, my God, that they so require. In complex time, we pray that you would be with them, my God. Father, we thank you Lord that it's purposeful that you have allowed this event to be here in our country at this time and we are grateful for that. We lift our beloved president, my God. His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfan Ali, we pray that you would continue to give them wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, my God, as he sits and he brings leadership, my God. Bless, take control. He acts that your Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus would provide that peace, that order that is needed, my God. Bless, take control. In Jesus' name we ask. Amen. Thank you. I'm going to try this one more time. Please have your seats. Preceding the entry of the heads of government a few minutes ago, there was a drumming ensemble. That drumming ensemble is part of a larger drumming fusion. The entire drumming fusion will now make a presentation. This presentation and this fusion is an amalgamation of master drummers from across Caricam. And it comprises Issa Vibe Entertainment from Barbados, the Belize Garafuna Collective, drummers from St. Kitts and Nevis, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the Bahamas, Iron Tribe from Grenada, Shooting Stars Tassar Group, and the San Juan South Cultural Group of Trinidad and Tobago, and Drum for Life 592 and Rising Stars Tassar Group from the host country Guyana. Ladies and gentlemen, the Caribbean Drumming Fusion. Host country Guyana, Grenada. Good evening, Caricam. I said good evening, Caricam. It is a true pleasure to be here celebrating this 46th meeting, and it's an honor to be on stage with these talented musicians from all over the Caribbean. We're striving for one Caribbean voice, so we're going to take some practice this evening. So I'm going to sing and I'm hoping that you could sing with me. All right? We could do that. It's on rhythm. Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago. Interlating drum fusion, the backbone of our music, providing the beat and the rhythm and the feeling that we need to raise the curtain on this meeting, drumming, part of our cultural history and our vibrant regional culture. Let's give all eight participating territories a round of applause for that beautiful drum fusion that we just enjoyed. First Lady of Guyana, Heads of Government of Caricam and First Ladies, Premiers of Associate Member States, Heads of Delegation, Secretary General of Caricam, Prime Minister of Guyana, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Speaker of the National Assembly, former Presidents Ramitaran Hines of Guyana, Ministers of the Government of Guyana and Caricam Member States, Members of the Judiciary, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Ghana, Minister of International Development of Canada, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Permanent Representative of the U.S. to the United Nations and Member of the U.S. Cabinet, Chief of the Cabinet of the Secretary General of the United Nations, Representatives from Lesotho and the United Arab Emirates, Members of Parliament, Heads of Caricam Institutions, Director General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, Ambassadors of Member States and Third Countries accredited to Caricam, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, Members of the Discipline Services, Members of the Private Sector, Students, Other Distinguished Guests, Members of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen across the region, good evening and welcome to the opening ceremony of the 46th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricam here at the National Cultural Center in the capital, Georgetown. At this time, we'd like to also acknowledge some special guests, the Honourable Shirley Pochway, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ghana, His Excellency Abdel Jubier, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, Permanent Representative of the U.S. to United Nations and Member of the U.S. Cabinet, somehow that position got two welcomes. Baroness Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary General, Mr. Omar Shahada, Envoy of the Foreign Minister of the United Arab Emirates and the Honourable Joshua Sceptipa, Representative from Lesotho. We are grateful for all of you attending today's and this week's meeting here in Georgetown, Guyana. At this time, we're moving to the more formal segment of the program and we'd like to invite Her Excellency Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary General of the Caribbean Community to deliver opening remarks. Good night, everyone. After that very scintillating set of drumming, I don't know that we need talks of long speeches, we need more music. Your Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Erfanali, President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica and outgoing Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community, allow me to accept all other protocols as having been observed. I simply want to say to you that it's a very distinctive pleasure to address you at this opening ceremony of the 46th regular meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of Caricom. I am particularly pleased to welcome you to Georgetown, Guyana, the seat of the Caricom Secretariat, the headquarters of the community where we have enjoyed the warm hospitality of the government and people of Guyana for over 50 years. It is fitting as we continue to celebrate our landmark 50th anniversary year and as we did in Trinidad and Tobago in July of 2023 that we gather in the home of one of the four signatories to the original Treaty of Chagwaramas, the framework and compass for our regional integration movement. On behalf of the community, I express heartfelt appreciation to our host and Chairman of the Conference for all the gracious hospitality he has extended and the excellent arrangements which have set the stage for a very productive three days of work. Excellency, I have no doubt that under your guidance as Chairman of the Conference and with the support of your colleague Heads of Government, the Secretariat and the regional institutions, the interests of our region will be accelerated. Over the last six months of 2023, our community was able to lead by the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica. We thank him for his unwavering commitment to his role which has brought tangible results for our member state. At the same time, we warmly welcome the Honourable Deacon Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada to the Bureau of the Conference and look forward to his robust involvement in advancing the interests of the community. Allow me to recognize the exceptional musical talent of the region whose extravaganza sounds of the Caribbean we just enjoyed. Their combined sound is a further illustration of what we achieve through effective coordination, collaboration, speaking with one voice as a region. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the matters before us at this 46th regular meeting will have significant impact on the direction of the community. The region's resilience, adaptability and development will be examined in detail as well as taken account of where we are as a region. This will allow us to pool our collective wisdom and devise sustainable solutions to the threats and the challenges that we face. Significant technical and policy work has led to accomplishments in various areas including food and nutrition security, advancing aspects of the Caricom single market and economy, border security, air and maritime transportation among others. We work with stakeholders to help find solutions to the multi-dimensional crisis in Haiti. We are committed to retain the region as a zone of peace despite various borough controversies and despite the passage of guns and dangerous drugs through our lands and our seas. As we continue to tackle these and other issues during this 46th meeting, our dedicated hours in plenary caucus and retreat sessions will be focused on moving our integration movement determinedly forward in the best interests of our region and its citizens. Later this week, we will be joined by our special guest, His Excellency, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Exchanges with him as well as with high-level guests from Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United Nations will allow us to continue robust engagement with diverse international partners on matters crucial to the sustained development and transformation of our region. Caricom speaks loudly and clearly in the international community. Our determined advocacy has helped us per positive change for critical hemispheric and global issues. The decision at COP 28 in December 2023 to operationalize the loss and damage fund and a growing acknowledgement in the international community at the Bridgestone Initiative presents a more relevant financial approach to addressing the unique needs of our region are but two examples of the advocacy, of the impact of Caricom's advocacy. We also proudly note Trinidad and Tobago's presidency of the 78th United Nations General Assembly, Guyana's election to the United Nations Security Council and its current presidency of that body, and Saint Lucia's election to the presidency of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNESCO. Congratulations to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which is completing a successful year as pro-temporary president of the community of Latin American and Caribbean states, CELAC, the first Caricom country to undertake this. These are all impactful forums where our region has a voice in addressing complex and multifaceted global issues. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, our past and present generations of leaders have established a solid foundation for us to build on. Our more than 50 years of existence demonstrates that the Caribbean community remains a viable integration movement. We have shown a keen appreciation of the development priorities that are critical to the region's peace and prosperity. The stage is well set for this new generation to engage its innovativeness and genuity and dynamism to secure and improve on the gains so far achieved. Mr. Chairman, as you carry us forward as a standard bearer for Caricom for the next six months, there is a heavy regional and global agenda which demands our undivided attention and active engagement in spite of the ever-present vagaries of the global landscape. Let us therefore harness the wisdom of our 50 years of existence, learning from what we have done well and what we know we can do better, and move forward with passion and determination to overcome today's challenges. Let us welcome active participation from our youth, our women, civil society, labour organizations, and the private sector, our indigenous peoples, our creatives, and our athletes. Let us ensure we constantly work to bring all on board to keep our integration movement growing and beneficial to the welfare of all our peoples. We all know less to the people of the Caribbean community at home and in the diaspora. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Exhaustion, the punchman, a heart-sweat bride. Folk song medley by the kai chur folk group and their friends Faith, Parika, Omaya Hall, Simeon, Roiroma, Melissa Shripol, Sonia Singh, and Nia Allen along with drumming from OKC featured some of the region's traditional folk songs this time the long time from Guyana, Sugarcane from Barbados, mangos from Trinidad and Tobago, the banana boat song from Jamaica, and Caribbean man by Dave Martins. We want to thank the secretary general, her Excellency Dr. Carla Barnett, for her remarks which framed for those heads participating in the discourses this week what the discussions are going to be about but it also helped to frame for us members of the community what are the things we should be looking to our leaders for over the next few days. In that framing the secretary general spoke about the role of culture and she did that sandwiched between the drumming fusion which she renamed a drumming extravaganza and the folk medley that we just listened to, two bookends as it were, to some of her remarks. preceding the folk medley there was the song El Dorado, a staple for us here in Guyana in the way it connects our history to some of the myths and legends of El Dorado and that was performed by Juana Singh and Calvin Barnett. Calvin Barnett by the way is the winner of the 2024 Socom on our title. We think of all the cultural items that were put together over the last few minutes we are also stung by some news which we like to share and that is that Peter Morgan, the leader of Morgan Heritage, passed away today and is a blow to the cultural community here in the Caribbean, Michelle. So we do want to extend our condolences to the family of Peter Morgan, the Morgan Heritage band and of course all of us across the region who enjoyed that particular genre of music reggae so strong so popular across all of our countries. As we continue ladies and gentlemen with the opening ceremony of the 46th regular meeting of the conference of the heads of government of CARICOM we now invite for remarks the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica and outgoing Chairman of the Conference of the Heads of Government of CARICOM. Thank you very much let me first of all recognize the Excellency Dr. Irfan Ali, President of the Corporative Republic of Guyana and the Chair of the Conference of Heads and First Lady, my dear colleague Heads, Dr. Carla Barnett, Secretary-General of CARICOM, distinguished ladies and gentlemen Excellencies, good evening. Let me first of all thank on behalf of all my colleagues the President of Guyana for the extraordinary excellent arrangements made for the hosting of this conference. I think everyone has decided to suspend all the eating practices because of what we've been exposed to thus far and what we've been told we're exposed to later on. I also want to take this opportunity to extend congratulations to the Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Mrs. Drew and the recent marriage. I also want to take this opportunity to extend advanced congratulations to the Prime Minister of Grenada who I understand will follow suit very soon. Now this part was fake news okay as I stand before you today concluding my term as Chairman of the CARICOM I do so with a heart that is filled with immense pride and gratitude. As is always the case it has been an immense privilege to serve this remarkable community as chair and as I pass the torch I do so with a deep sense of accomplishment for what we have been able to achieve during the course of my mandate. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to my fellow heads of government the Secretary-General of CARICOM and her staff, CARICOM institutions, organs and bodies, CARICOM's international partners, my team in Dominica and the citizens of the community for their invaluable support. 2023 has been a year etched in our memories not just for the global challenges we faced but for the unwavering spirit and collective action that defined CARICOM. Time and time again we rose to the occasion so it is only right that we join now to acknowledge the significant progress made across various fronts. Over the past year we took concrete steps towards self-sufficiency through the continued implementation of the community agricultural policy fostering innovation and collaboration among our farmers. These include budgetary allocations to agriculture, increased budgetary allocations to agriculture in member states, introduction of new crops, improved cross-border investments and collaborations, development and implementation of new agricultural trade policies and guidelines and identification and agreement on possible insurance products to benefit farmers in the region. It means that we remain on course to meet our 25 by 2025 food security initiative targets with the most critical one being to reduce our food import bill and advance food and nutrition security for the community. With the signing of a double taxation agreement easing trade investment within the community we fortified our economic resilience and almost immediately saw positive signs of recovery of our respective tourism sectors a vital pillar of our economies. As a collective our continued calls towards raising climate change awareness reverberated on the global stage we advocated for ambitious climate action championing the Caribbean climate action plan which will safeguard our future from the devastating effects of climate change. With this upcoming hurricane season projected to be extremely active I want us to continue emphasizing the vulnerabilities of our region and the need to operationalize the loss and damage fund the need to operationalize the loss and damage fund. I therefore look forward to the seeds conference in Antigua and Barbuda in May this year where we can continue to highlight Caricom's unique needs and concerns and advance collective action. On the international front international relations front we deepened engagement with international partners and secured crucial support for our development priorities but I want to especially single out the success of the first Caricom Saudi Arabia summit held in Saudi Arabia in November of last year. The summit focused heavily on investment opportunities with Saudi Arabia pledging to bolster our infrastructure renewable energy tourism and agricultural sectors. Let me take this moment to publicly thank his excellency Abdel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir from Saudi Arabia for your joining us at this 46th meeting as a demonstration of your country's commitment to advancing and strengthening the relations between Saudi Arabia and the Caribbean community. Ladies and gentlemen these achievements are not merely footnotes they represent the collective spirit of the Caribbean they represent the unwavering commitment of our governments the dedication of our people and the power of regional collaboration. It was our shared belief in collaboration that guided us to remain peaceful during a period when other regions in the world crumbled and resorted to unrest. Every family faces friction but strong families navigate disagreements with respect and understanding. They prioritize open communication active listening and compromise remembering the love and shared values that bind them. My friends when I began this address by speaking of my immense pride I did so with memories still fresh of what we achieved as a group when we met as a family in December in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to maturely address the tensions between our two brothers. We made international news not for unrest, war or violence but for hosting of mature proactive deliberations that created a template that others in the world would do well to follow. It is therefore fitting that if a strong sense of pride in our accomplishments I pass the barter to his excellency Dr. Irfan Ali president of Guyana and assure him of my unstinting support and cooperation. At the end of my chairmanship I have an even higher regard for the spirit of community that underpins our integration movement. I have full faith that the Caribbean spirit of unity and determination will continue to guide us. We have the talent, the resources and the collective will to overcome any obstacle. So let us continue to work together hand in hand to build a brighter future for our beloved Caribbean. A future where every country thrives and every voice is heard and in this regard my dear friends let's we forget Haiti a sister country of the Caribbean community. Haiti needs the support of everyone in this world every country in this world and I do not believe that we have the time or the luxury of time to continue talking about helping Haiti we need to help Haiti yesterday. May God bless our efforts. May God bless the Caribbean community. Thank you very much. Thank you Prime Minister Scarrett and we thank you for your stewardship of the region. Ladies and gentlemen we're coming up to 7 p.m. Eastern Caribbean time and in the final showcase for this evening we now present if we believe by the students who are part of the Young Rightist Club in the Ministry of Culture this is freedom from a diverse cast of brilliant local artists and to round off this showcase will be our rallying song One Guyana please enjoy. One Guyana today is like our pop anthem we have the constitutional one then we have the pop one and it seems that very soon we're going to have a one Caribbean pop anthem too. I've got some late-breaking news which have been asked to communicate the drumming collaboration that we enjoyed earlier this evening was coordinated by Mr. Adrian Mark the Chief Cultural Office of Grenada and Mr. Kevin Moore Cultural Office of a Music at the National Cultural Foundation in Barbados. First time visitors here for this meeting should have figured out by now that we in Guyana take great delight in hosting visitors. I want to be bold to say that our president could be called hosting chief he takes a personal direct interest in how we are taking care of his guests our guests the region's guests but he's more than just a good host and a good cook some of the heads will get a chance to test and prove this for themselves later in the week. But Dr. Mohamed Erfanali is an indefatigable leader those who speak without deep reflection pass off Guyana's current growth as just a matter of luck and chance thoughtful people though realize that good luck or the sudden availability of resources while a good thing is not enough it requires vision it requires commitment and it requires hard work it's hard to find those qualities combined in the kinds of quantities in which you find them combined in Dr. Mohamed Erfanali. Clear vision proven commitment and hard work that wears down goes around him. Ladies and gentlemen please stand with me and welcome Dr. Mohamed Erfanali president of the cooperative republic of Guyana an incoming chairman of the Caribbean community. Thank you very much very kindly please my distinguished colleagues my partner and I have my partner here my wife but my partner the prime minister the chancellor speaker of the national assembly former presidents and prime minister I think the the chair omitted the presence of former prime minister Kenny Antony please put your hands together and he is also performing a very important duty for the region he is chairing the eminent persons group in relation to Haiti and ensuring that we advance in the interests of the people of Haiti because our region has one interest when it comes to Haiti that is the people of Haiti and we will not deviate from that interest the people of Haiti and anything that impedes the interests of the people of Haiti is of immense concern for the leadership of this region already today we spent most of this morning on the very issue of Haiti we are committed as a region in ensuring that the people of Haiti can also realize their full potential in peace security and with good governance we owe it to this the people of Haiti sometimes as a region we are in tough positions and we have to take tough measures but always the region toughness is always in the interest of the region's people that is fundamental for the region you were you enjoyed the brilliance of culture in this region culture is our staple culture is that common thread that brings us together if there is anyone in this room that did not felt uplifted even to the point of wanting to move with the rhythm of the drums then something is wrong with your energy level we in Guyana have taken a very conscious decision in ensuring that we invest in culture as a tool and mechanism of unifying our people and as a tool and mechanism of telling the story of who we are as a people and in this region we owe it the generation ahead of us to keep our culture alive and to invest in this culture because the culture is what distinguishes us from any other region a culture is distinctly different from any other region and i want to make this point too all those who would have enjoyed the drumming the lyrics of our region we do not need lyrics that promote violence in this region we have the ability to promote good lyrics and lyrics that will move people in the positive direction and move people to think act and behave positively as leaders of this region we have to take this situation very seriously and ensure the lyrics of the region is the lyrics of Bob Marley the lyrics of positive positivity and the lyrics of positive living and positive change we must take this responsibility on today for some this may seem a soft issue but this is a fundamental issue only recently prime minister roley and i were having a conversation when many young people young brilliant people questioned the decision of not having a certain artiste perform in the country because that artiste is on an interpol red list we cannot allow our culture to be captured in this narrative we have to lead a revolution against this narrative and reposition our culture in the way it was conceived that is for positive living and positive upliftment and this is not about anyone or against anyone this is for our region and for the future of the young people in this region i want to pause to recognize our distinguished guests from the u.s only in karikam we can bring the u.s Saudi Arabia the un and canada so closely together oh come on put your hands together what a picture Saudi Arabia and the u.s shoulders the shoulder to shoulder in the interest of a stable and secure world let us all put our shoulders together this region can lead by example there is no war too big for us to stop what we need is the willpower what we need is the courage what we need is a determination what we need is a constancy of our moral compass that is what we need and if we have constancy of our moral compass then we can stand up every day and sing from the same hymn sheet without worrying what others are thinking about us because our actions are consistent every day of the year and talking about singing and from hymn sheet my dear our dear respected prime minister the right honorable ralph gonzales even the most popular hymn you had difficulties with the goodness of god you could have called on me to help you but that is the reason we live in we can go to a temple a church a mosque any leader in this region can go to a temple a mosque a church and be comfortable because we do not see religion as a mode of separation we see it as a tool of bringing people together and inspiration prime minister motley offered the world to utilize a historical site in barbados to build an international university of peace and tolerance in a region that understand how to live in peace and tolerance we have this natural ability as a region and i believe that every time we act collectively as a region we were able to bring positive change in this world and for this reason alone caricum is a critical organization and we should all be proud of caricum because there are many examples in the history of this world when caricum acted together when caricum moved together we saw positive changes and positive movements in our global environment today i was contemplating what should i say i've already said enough but i wanted to point into a direction in which we have our friends here and i think the people in our region sometimes question what do we do when we travel as a region what do you accomplish i can tell you for all my colleagues here every time we go we go on a mission and prime minister scarich was very modest but 2023 delivered tremendous successes for caricum and we should be proud of what 2023 delivered for us it opened up many opportunities but just in the interest of accountability to the region because when we gather gather here as regional leaders we have a sense of accountability to the people of the region just to ensure that we fulfill our responsibility to the people of the region i want to highlight a few things and i want to put our friends also on the accountability compass because our friends would have also made commitments and it's also important for the region to understand what those commitments are and how it will be delivered if we look at the issue of food security which remains a priority for the region and by the way i'm positioning these remarks in the context of the agenda for the next year and i did this in consultation with the incoming chairman after my tenure in the interest of democracy so the 25 by 2025 remains a top priority however we are of the view that we must now focus on ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030 we're proposing to bring together the human assets that this region nurtured in the international fame to bring their goodwill together as ambassadors to mobilize international financing and support so that we can end hunger and malnutrition in this region by 2030 we have the capability we have the usain Bolt we have the the chris gale we have the all the clive boys and all the big names big leaders we have to use these assets to mobilize resources and create an ambassadorial mission so that we can raise resources revenue to address the issue of hunger and malnutrition around four four point one people are 57 percent of the population in this region were affected by food insecurity indicating a significant rise of 1.3 million compared to february 2022 this is an alarming number this is an alarming number and of course we need not go into the reasons for this the imported inflation the cost increased costs of fertilizer forget about the increased costs the availability of fertilizer the availability of agrochemicals all of this hinders our development to this end within the cycle we'll be working with the canadiens and this is the first part i'm going to put a notice we're going to work with the canadiens to accelerate and implement projects from their agri value added program we held discussions already with minister hussain who is here and he has responsibility for the investment in agri value added programs and projects for this region this is important because we have to build our food system for resilience and sustainability against many different shocks compared to the rest of the world the minister has committed to not only engaging us but working with us in the common weeks to finalize projects and programs to be financed by the region focusing on youth and women involvement in innovative agriculture so minister you're not here only for the opening ceremony there's serious work ahead secondly we have submitted a regional sustainable resilient agricultural project to the kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the cost of 25 million u.s. dollars we're in advanced stages of finalizing this investment to be made within the region that will focus again on youth women and innovation in the food production system minister javier's excellency we already had discussions around this and we are hoping that in the coming weeks we'll finalize arrangements to have this 25 million u.s. dollars disbursed in the region to support our food production system thirdly and i want our partners to know that we are also taking responsibility thirdly gyan is investing in a center of excellence equipped with a situational room and a state-of-the-art data analytics platform to support regional food security and regional food production the platform will focus on the area of research and development real-time data technology and predict predictive decision-making modules to help our farmers we're doing this in conjunction with EECA and FAO as a regional project fourthly the private sector the low interest 100 million u.s. dollars facility by republic bank limited has been activated with the first 17 million u.s. dollars disbursed already in food and agriculture project within the region we'll be launching a program a development workshop soon for the region to better position itself and its private sector to benefit from this low interest facility from republic bank fifthly we are working with embrapa of brazil for the rebuilding of our citrus sector in the region focusing on having one million citrus seedlings available within the first year that is the end by the end of december so we can revitalize the citrus industry in the region sixthly we're working to build out the regional food hub to integrate production processing packaging and distribution within the region and connected to northern brazil seventhly we're working to have the region fully self-sufficient in corn soya black eyed peas and red beans by the end of 2026 further and we are going to achieve this without a doubt we're going to achieve this further we're working with capsule in positioning our poultry sector in the region to be fully self-sufficient with full backward and forward integration including the production of hatching eggs within a five-year window this is the real work that we are doing in karikom this is the real work that your leaders are engaging in making a huge difference in the life of this generation and the next generation eighthly we're working on the expansion of our breeding program for livestock the scale-up quality and production to meet increasing regional demand ninthly we're working on the integration of our rules and fight the sanitary requirements and regulations to have a common regime but more importantly building out our testing and laboratory infrastructure tenthly we're working with levio pharma company veterinary company products in conjunction with bio cuba pharma for the production of bio pesticides and by products for agriculture and the use of natural products in support of our livestock industry and food production 11th 11th I said 11th now this is a nightly thing we're going to go do now the 11th point we are continuing work to address the removal of trade barriers within member states and the people of karikom must put pressure on the leaders of karikom to remove the trade barriers it is of no use and purpose for this region we are too small to be competing against each other people of this region call upon your leaders to remove these barriers let them hear you loudly these barriers need to go and must go urgently I don't think we can be more accountable than that regional digitization and youth members states are currently working on the digitization of government services to allow for seamless transactions movement of goods and services and reducing bureaucracy in government we need to develop urgently a digital strategy an AI strategy for the region because if we are to integrate that digital platform we must be integrated from conceptualization to implementation we cannot all operate on a different platform it will not help integration and we have to take this very seriously in addition I believe that the region must work immediately on developing regulations to govern AI and the use of AI within this region we must have a common rule based system regulations and legislation to deal with AI it is going to be disastrous if we do not manage this now and have the infrastructure established to manage it now the one karikom skill development program today I had the honor of launching with Canada the digital job platform for Guyana we have already completed a regional digital platform presentation a project to the sum of 30 million US dollars through the one karikom skill development fund we'll ensure that over 10 000 citizens of karikom will receive skill development training in their country to match the labor market and these training will be linked to jobs the initiative will help to address the labor shortages being experienced by multinationals across the world again Canada has committed to us that they're ready to examine this project on the matching grant in matching investment initiative that is whatever the country put up they will match it so that we can advance this project and program this is ready for implementation across the region and if I am if I am not staying true to the commitment you can raise your hands and object but we are I'm saying these things here not lightly because all of us need to be accountable for the commitments we are making and all of us must work together to realize the commitments that we are making the UAE one million coders initiative through the growing levels of cooperation between karikom and the united arab Emirates they have now proposed to train one million young karikom nationals who will be eligible to sign up online for the coders initiative free of cost over a three years period in the following areas programming fundamentals data science fundamentals and android developer fundamentals and they're willing for us to implement this in our primary and secondary school system targeting one million children across the region the ferry service we would have coined the term the coalition of the willing and the region is willing to move forward with this ferry service with the help of Trinidad and Tobago we have advanced work and implementation of a regional ferry service tremendous progress would have already been achieved we're now working on the commonality of systems customs like the sanitary systems immigration systems so that it will be seamless we will have a single window operating in all the countries we're starting with Guyana Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago as the tests and only announcing that we are already getting tremendous private sector interest to take this in the wider region and this will be an important development for a region in a single window operation that we are looking to achieve we want when a container is on that ferry or on that ship from Guyana to go to another destination in the region it must be pre-cleared pre-clear through a rules-based system because we'll have customs of everyone sharing offices within the region so that the ease of doing business improve competitiveness and reduce delays and all of this are cost saving measures for the private sector in our region whilst we're doing this we understand that we need to be deeply connected with northern Brazil and Suriname and French Guyana for this reason President Santocchi and I are pushing ahead with the building of a bridge across the quarantine river and then President Santocchi is working on a project to link French Guyana to Suriname and we are building 45 roads in the forest space of the highway to northern Brazil so that we'll be re-engineering the transport and logistics hub through northern Brazil through Guyana into the region and all the way up the north for this the distribution sector in the region need to rethink its strategy and we are saying that the distribution sector in the region needs to position itself with this these development that are taking place regional security regional security is also a major concern for us we're working with the US we're working with the UK we're working with our friends in CELAC to enhance regional security but it remains a daunting task because we have expansive waters to cover we have expansive waters to cover and the security of this region ensures the security of important development partners therefore investment in the security of this region is investment in your own security also and we need to advance this conversation how we mobilize investment in security in this region to ensure that you are also secure our united states friends and cabinet members are here I think this requires serious and immediate attention energy security I believe that we have the capability and the capacity now with what is taking place in Suriname, Guyana with renewables with Trinidad and Tobago to build an energy infrastructure that would ensure this region not remains this region become energy secure long into the future we need to sit down articulate a regional energy plan that guarantees regional energy security just like we are working on a plan that guarantees regional food security this is an important agenda item that we must confront in relation to the adaptation fund let me for us say that we support formally the Bridgestone initiative we support as a region formally the Bridgestone initiative let me hear you in a round of applause how strongly we support the Bridgestone initiative we believe that this initiative must now form the basis to restructure existing financing within the region and also outside of the region for the developing world and also be the fundamental pillars that new financing the conditions that new financing must come with and we are also going to take responsibility for ourselves to this end I want to say that to support these efforts adaptation efforts of the region ghan is committing two million u.s. dollar out of our revenue earned from the sale of carbon credit as a part of our lcds to the regional adaptation fund in keeping with our announcement of building prosperity for the region we are pleased to also announce that three million u.s. dollars is committed by Exxon mobile global trust fund for sustainable projects to build resilience and improve productivity within the region including food security with this support the regional adaptation fund will have an investment of five million u.s. dollars to start with just this morning I went I met with minister Hussein Canada's minister of international development and we agree on the importance of ramping up access to climate financing a scale and using efficient mechanism to do so and in saying this I reminded the minister that there is a substantial commitment that was made the heads at the Canada carry come summit and we are now looking in the coming weeks to activate that commitment to have those funds dispersed and ready to support the region's adaptation and resilience strategy in foreign relations we intend to activate fully the participation of carry come in Kenya the carry come house in Kenya is already activated with Barbados taking up their position we are going to work to have as much carry come countries in the carry come house in Kenya so that we can have a wider and fuller presence there we're strengthening the relationship with the African Union including the integration of the work of the two secretariat and we look to revitalize the OACP we have to revitalize this organization Saudi Arabia still on foreign policy as ongoing 650 million u.s dollars approved in projects in 2023 650 million u.s dollars of project under implementation in this region 150 million u.s dollars of project is already approved and in the process of disbursement a third 100 million u.s dollars of project is approved and awaiting formal sign off and we have 400 million u.s dollars of project in the pipeline to be discussed and finalized with Saudi Arabia those are the project portfolio this is the project portfolio that we have in Saudi Arabia the carry come secretariat this term in this term we'll be addressing the continued strengthening of the carry come secretariat to ensure greater financial stability and the build out of a carry come office complex annex CSME we can talk from now till the next two days here Prime Minister Motley I will have to invite you here but Prime Minister Motley laid down the realities in our last meeting we have 100 and how many pages sg one we have 113 pages of decisions under the CSME CSME that is awaiting implementation 113 pages of decisions under the CSME that is awaiting implementation we must correct this we cannot we cannot move forward without correcting this we have a responsibility to correct this I started my brief presentation by alluding to the fact that I believe we have to be accountable to the people of this region I have demonstrated areas in which we are working areas in which we are committed and we are publicly stating these commitment your leaders work tirelessly sometimes I see the comments it is not easy in this complex and challenging global environment to get the attention of anyone for this region it's not a god-given right that we get anyone attention every day we go there fighting for attention of this region in the interests of the people that requires diplomacy hard work networking building relationship you can't do that sitting at home these frank conversations all of us must speak about so the population of this region understand the realities that we are faced with I thank you and god bless you ladies and gentlemen we've come to the end of the formal ceremony with the presentation by dr. Irfan Ali I'd like to ask you to take your seats please and we're going to ask you to remain seated while the dr. Ali in the heads first make their way out of the auditorium and then the special invite is after that and then we'd ask for the rest of us to leave and just as our leaders came into the auditorium we'll invite our students who escorted them to return for our very important guests as we thank you for joining us for the opening ceremony this evening we thank our performers that made the ceremony a truly enjoyable experience the singing the dancing the drumming we thank our religious leaders for praying with us and so our students are here from our various city schools the acknowledged minister of education pre-amanic chan very proud of our students I'm sure as our leaders depart the auditorium may we continue to forge a caribbean community that is inclusive and resilient a community that is a unified competitive force in the global arena as we heard just now from his excellency a region where every citizen is secure and a community that shares opportunities and economic social and cultural prosperity we thank everyone for tuning in from across the caribbean and we welcome our visitors to our beautiful country best wishes for a successful 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government of karikam our leaders are taking their leave from the auditorium at this time as the following the heads of government will be the special guests up to the reception we are about to put a close on this broadcast and they're being accompanied by students from various schools from across the country making their way up to cocktail reception being hosted upstairs the national cultural center and of course you are listening to coverage of the 46th regular meeting of the conference of heads of government opening ceremony of karikam and we were pleased to bring you coverage here from the national cultural center as we shared with you what will be happening here in george shanghanna over the next few days and of course dr carla barnett secretary general of karikam in her remarks spoke about the one karikam and where we will be headed and task the heads of government where the next few days what is expected making as we have prime minister of the cooperative republic of head to that reception yes during dr carla barnett's message as she spoke on a regional and global agenda that it needs to be carefully looked at to advance regional cooperation and the regional dynamism members of the diplomatic community as well make their way up to the reception various from various parts of the world dr carla barnett also anticipates the exchanges with international partners that will happen over the next few days to further enhance the regional integration she spoke about culture and the role of culture that it is a very integrated in karikam and that was a testament from the various cultural displays that we saw this evening emanating from the stage of the national cultural center Roosevelt scarrett the outgoing chairman of karikam spoke as well and referenced the rise in agriculture across the entire carbean region on vision 25 by 2025 spoke about lowering the food import bill and this will be done through the aggressive approach is that must be made and in as well encouraging food security through vision 25 by 2025 spoke about the argile declaration there in sin Vincent and the grenadines and how karikam was able was able to lead by example of what the region is about that is about ensuring peace ensuring the calm during that testing time that we saw here in giana with efforts from venezuela spoke highly of president ali and his happiness that he is passing on the baton to president ali to be able to make the necessary inputs in karikam and to effect the change that is needed president ali spoke extensively on spoke extensively on the people the peace the security good governance and all the various elements that will make up karikam charging those as well who have not been able to attend the bus yet the opening ceremony but we'll be here in the next few days about what is to come that serious work needs to happen spoke extensively as well on regional integration and the ferry service that will be operational piloted among the three countries giana trinidad and tobago as well as barbados and once that comes on stream we will be able to see much relief as it relates to the karikam region just to reiterate that some of the thematic areas of focus for this year's conference will be on the csm e climate resilience agriculture food and nutrition security energy security regional security climate change and climate financing global and hemispheric issues the 2024 icc men's t20 world cup as well as regional integration reparations and the foreign and community relations as well there will be cross cutting issues discussed on youth civil society and the karikam private sector these business sessions will commence tomorrow happening at the gana marriott hotel in kingston georgetown and we'll go until the 28th heads of government retreat will be held on february 27 and this will continue across the length and breadth of gana everyone we will be keeping you updated here on the national communications network incorporated so on behalf of myself the entire technical team here at ncn and as well those from the department of public information we bid you farewell from the national cultural center and we will keep you updated across all of the business sessions on karikam thanks for staying with us