Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Foreign Trade

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Prime Minister Bruce Golding is escorted to the platform where he joined Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for the opening ceremony to mark the start of the 29th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Hon Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica, in an unequivocal statement on Tuesday (1 July 2008) to the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government re-affirmed his country's commitment to CARICOM.

Prime Minister Golding who was attending his first Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government as a Head of Government told the Opening Ceremony held at the Sandals Grande Antigua Resort and Spa that Jamaica remained firmly committed to CARICOM.

"We are determined to play our part in advancing the ideals of this movement," he declared.

Prime Minister Golding opined that there was nothing intrinsically wrong with the Community; it was just a matter of confused priorities.

"CARICOM has not failed us; if there's any failure, it is we who have failed CARICOM," he told the leaders and charged them to re-double their efforts to address failures where ever they might be.

Through the use of proverbs and anecdotes, the Prime Minister drew a picture of unity within the Community to which all Member States should aspire and encouraged the Conference to refrain from dwelling on the negatives and forge ahead with "the reality of who we are and what our objectives are."

Using the metaphor of the geese's flight pattern, He further urged the Community to work together as a team; protect and support one another as a Community, quipping that if geese could learn to fly together so could the Members of the Community.

Intimating that there was a crisis of leadership globally, Prime Minister Golding stated that "we are caught in the worst global cycle ever and leaders of the world are seemingly disoriented.," therefore the Community leaders must rise to the occasion and provide models of good leadership.

"CARICOM provides the framework; the Caribbean peoples are awaiting our response. CARICOM will not fail; we the leaders in whom the people have reposed their trust should not fail CARICOM," he concluded.

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