Bharrat JagdeoBelow is part two of a recent address to the House of Representatives by Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, who was in the island to partake in the Independence celebrations as a guest of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson. Part one was published last week.
WE (CARICOM) must also argue for a new financial system and for the democratisation of the international financial institutions. This will be a system that recognises the vulnerability of small states and provides for those vulnerabilities through the development of new instruments and mechanisms for the delivery of loans and grants.
It appears to me that our interests will be best served if we can remain together, forge a common diplomacy, and speak with one voice, to represent our collective constituency.
While we are pursuing these changes on the international front to carve out a more sympathetic external environment for developing countries, there are also policies which we can implement at home to help us to resolve the problems facing the Community.
Madam Speaker, given the changing nature of the world and the high premium placed on education, we must ensure that our education system is refocused and is driven by a new philosophy. We have excelled in the Arts and the Humanities and Social Sciences and must continue to do so but simultaneously we must produce Nobel laureates in mathematics, technology, and science.
Our schools must inculcate positive attitudes in our students. Our young people must leave these institutions with pride in their identity, positive values, tolerance and respect for others and the general preparation for survival in any environment.
Our small economies are incapable of generating sufficient capital needed to fuel our economic growth. It is true that the CARICOM Single Market and Economy will facilitate the movement of capital intra-regionally and this will augment local capital sources. However, our low saving rates will not allow us to generate enough resources to meet all of our investment needs.
Therefore we must make our region more capital attractive. Governments can assist in this by providing incentives and a national regulatory framework. Our legislators also have a role in supporting and accelerating legislative changes. The media can help to project an image that would be more conducive to attracting investment and promoting tourism. Without any censoring intent, it is my opinion that some media practitioners must remember that they are also part of the society and that the unnecessary negative images of the region that are often disseminated will inhibit our ability to attract investment thereby diminishing our ability to resolve the many problems which face us.
We have a tendency to focus only on the negatives. May I say that many may have the erroneous impression that crime is the only thing that this wonderful country has. My experience and the facts prove otherwise. Just yesterday, I visited Denbigh and witnessed an impressive display of the industry and enterprise of the Jamaican people. Unfortu-nately, this will never make the international press. We all have problems and crime and violence affect all the Member States of CARICOM but we also have much to be proud of and it is important that there should be a balanced portrayal of our region.
I wish to submit that the Caribbean needs more, and a new breed of entrepreneurs to ensure its survival. However, we are presently not incubating enough entrepreneurs. The development of the entrepreneurial spirit is essential for economic dynamism, solving unemployment and reducing poverty. An empirical survey of the dynamic economies of the world will reveal that there is a high incidence of the formation of new companies. However, a casual survey of our region will reveal that many historical companies continue to dominate our economic landscape, many un-touched by change and operating inefficiently and at great loss.
The primary task now is for our universities, our private sector and governments to collaborate, and design programmes that will instil the entrepreneurial spirit in our citizens and prepare them to take calculated economic risks.
Our banks and other financial institutions must also do more to ensure that their credit system is responsive to the promotion of entrepreneurship.
Meanwhile, the Caribbean private sector must respond to the changing times. With some exceptions, our private sector has often been too rigid and too slow to perceive and pursue economic opportunities. In many cases they are averse to risk-taking.
In the new environment our private sector must be willing to consider new forms of organisation. It must abandon insular thinking and actions and perceive the synergies and advantages that flow from in-country and regional mergers. The Governments of the Caribbean must support these processes and must make a serious effort to become genuine partners with the private sector. Acting together will allow us to better face the threats confronting our region.
It is common knowledge that many of our countries today are experiencing high unemployment. We all suffer from crime and senseless violence. We need to stop playing the blame-game and work together to find solutions to these and other social ills.
Additionally, we must recognise that strong family values, conflict resolution skills, responsibility for self and love for country are all important to the development of society and for remedying many social ills. We must therefore seek to include everyone in this process. Parents, teachers, churches, communities and other social groups all have a part to play in the moral advancement of our societies.
Madam Speaker, Honourable Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, we will have to create conditions to shift from inherited confrontational politics to politics that serve the interest of our people. Irrespective of whichever side of the House you sit, I believe our people want to see their leaders working together. They want to see them confronting and solving the problems that affect them.
Government and Opposition must, therefore, be guided by what is good for their people rather than by partisan interests. They must work more closely with civil society to overcome common problems and to ensure that democracy grows stronger in our region. If we cannot work together we would be more vulnerable to external forces. We must face our challenges as a united team.
Madam Speaker, more than a decade ago in the Grande Anse Declaration the determination was made and the decision was taken to establish an Assembly of Caribbean Community Parliamentarians as a deliberative body for deepening the Integration Movement. We must work to reinvigorate this body which could give the people of the region a larger platform for advancing their views and enhancing their living standards.
As you are aware, the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas builds upon the foundation laid by Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana towards regional integration. It reaffirms that our collective action in the face of detrimental unilateral actions by the developed world is the only hope of our survival with dignity. I do not believe that any of us in this Chamber needs persuading that the benefits of acting in consort outweigh those that come from acting alone.
Whatever our problems they should not be permitted to diminish our integration resolve or breed despair. For we are in a time of unprecedented opportunities when the efforts of our people, if properly harnessed through the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and other initiatives, can create more social and economic spaces for greater co-operation, solve many of our problems and lead to a better life.
My country has always believed that such benefits would naturally accrue through our Community. Consequently, Guyana has never wavered in its commitment to Caribbean integration. And I am unreservedly committed to CARICOM. We must all in the Community strengthen our resolve to completing the integration process.
Madam Speaker, Honourable Prime Minister, Members of Parliament, Distinguished invitees, Ladies and Gentlemen In conclusion, I would like to wish the people of Jamaica a happy fortieth independence anniversary, and for the Caribbean Community, rapid progress towards the realisation of the hopes and aspirations of all its citizens.
