Looking ahead to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009, Mr McKinnon concluded that leaders present at this biennial summit “will see a strong and vibrant Caribbean” and “will feel very much at home.”
The Commonwealth and the Caribbean
7 March 2008
McKinnon makes his final address to the CARICOM Summit as Commonwealth Secretary-General
With a quarter of the Commonwealth’s funds spent in the Caribbean, Secretary-General Don McKinnon noted how the Commonwealth’s work in the region “typifies our work across the continents and oceans” to meet these “two great pillars” – democracy and development – the two challenges shared by both the Caribbean and the Commonwealth.
The Secretary-General, speaking at the CARICOM (Caribbean Community) Summit in The Bahamas on 7 March 2008, outlined the challenges and vulnerabilities facing countries across the Caribbean. He emphasised that these “challenges are best met collectively – amongst yourselves, and amongst the international community which stands ready to help you.”
For instance, more will be achieved in the World Trade Organization and with the European Union with “a unified CARICOM voice” and countries will “prevail against crime if [they] continue to help each other.”
In order to meet these challenges, Mr McKinnon said that “the Commonwealth continues to stand with [the Caribbean] in entrenching the democratic culture”, which has been seen in the last 12 months with “peaceful and constructive changes of government in The Bahamas, in Belize, Barbados, Jamaica and St Lucia.”
Looking ahead to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2009, Mr McKinnon concluded that leaders present at this biennial summit “will see a strong and vibrant Caribbean” and “will feel very much at home”.
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