It was against the backdrop of continuing political and economic instability that a number of CARICOM foreign ministers gathered in Castries, St Lucia to reaffirm their position to strive to unify the region.
"There is much happening around us... that will affect us, and certainly, much that will require, from us, the definition and articulation of common, or, at the very least, coordinated responses. Our community of states must be seen to act as a community in the true sense of the word and not be viewed by the outside world as simply a collection of countries, which happen to be in the same geographic area. There must be singularity of purpose, and complementarity of actions, in dealing with the multifaceted issues created by outside actors and factors," Senator Julian Hunte, St Lucia's foreign minister, said as he took up the mantle of chairman of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) last week Monday. He has succeeded Guyana's Foreign Minister, Rudy Insanally.
In his opening address to the Fifth COFCOR gathering, Hunte said history had clearly demonstrated that when community members worked together under the rubric of "singularity and complementarity," the community was then seen as a force to be reckoned with. "The Haitian issue is a case in point. Our prior perceived dormancy on that issue made certain international actors believe that the opportunity had presented itself for them to implement their agenda for Haiti. This was certainly a wake-up call for the Community. The unified position adopted to help our sister nation of Haiti, is now well documented. The result of this demonstration of unity is that within the OAS, CARICOM is now consulted before any decision is taken on Haiti."
He urged his colleagues not to slip back into a dormant state on the issue, but said they should continue to ensure that actions undertaken in Haiti had the imprint of CARICOM.
"The stamp `approved by CARICOM' is emerging within the councils of the OAS as a valuable asset. It is one that we must use with care and never squander," Hunte said, adding that he was heartened by the team's discussions with regard to coming to grips with certain issues.
"The development of a revised strategy for the coordination of the foreign policies of CARICOM states, constituted the main focus of our retreat, and this suggests to me that there is a requisite concern and commitment to address and to resolve those issues where CARICOM is seen to be slipping."
The St Lucian Minister noted, though, that on the economic front, even as small developing countries were being pressured to move more swiftly than their economies could sustain - towards liberalisation of their markets - the community was witnessing a resurgence of protectionism by some of the leading players in the call for liberalisation.
"In this regard, it is difficult to find the right words to describe the actions of the USA to protect its steel industry. Let's simply refer to them as `interesting'. However, those actions and the reaction of the EU point to more difficult times ahead within the WTO and in the world economy," Hunte observed.
Also speaking at the two-day conference was CARICOM Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, who pointed out that the COFCOR most exemplified the essence of Caribbean Community. He stressed that any successful strategy for the Region's improvement required the full participation of all sectors of the society.
"We must now be prepared to act together and not be afraid to be ready to take and act upon bold decisions to improve the lives of our peoples," he said.
According to Carrington, the Region now has to face the most formidable challenges in its modern history. "How we fare in those negotiations, and emerge from those struggles, for believe me, life-threatening struggles they are, will certainly depend on the quantity and quality of our involvement in this process." He strongly believes, though, that the Region needs to maintain other bilateral and multilateral relation, at a time when the international environment is not particularly friendly to the Caribbean Community.
"The council is in the vanguard of these engagements. While the council must take the lead on this front, its efforts can be seriously undermined, if not jeopardised entirely, if other organs of our community and sectors of our society do not play their full and complimentary roles, and do so at the right time," Carrington told the gathering.
He said the implementation of the Single Market and Economy and all its related requirements, must, therefore, proceed apace. In addition to that, there must be efforts to develop the Region's human resources, and to protect its young people against the scourge of HIV and AIDS.
"The pursuit of none of these objectives can be delayed, and all require our fullest involvement. No organ of the community is perhaps more aware of this than the council, which is already involved in negotiations for the FTAA and in the WTO, and which, in 144 days, will need to sit across the table from our European partners to commence negotiations on our future trading relations with that important trading partner."
According to the secretary-general, there is little to fault in the vision of the Region's leaders to make the community viable and secure, but, he said, some questions remained. "Are we satisfied that enough has been done to provide the mechanisms for the indispensable involvement of all sectors of our society? Are we satisfied that we have been moving fast enough in our implementation process?"
Carrington pointed out that just recently, Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson, warned that the matter of the Single Market and Economy required great urgency and was of paramount importance.
"Indeed, a review of our total situation, would, in my view, lead me to conclude that we face a challenge not only of total involvement, but also of full and urgent implementation.
"The battle may seem to be well underway, but in fact it is really just beginning. We must now be prepared to act together and not be afraid to be ready and take and act upon bold decisions to improve the lives of our peoples," he said.