Granger: We must unite

PRESIDENT of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana His Excellency Brigadier (Retired) David Granger is calling on the regional heads to come together and expedite the full implementation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

He made the call yesterday during the opening ceremony of the two-day 28th Inter-sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government currently taking place in Georgetown Guyana.

Pointing to the pillars outlined by the four founding members of CARICOM, he drew reference to the need for economic cooperation through the CSME, which he said is needed if the Caribbean is to “escape the hazard of economic emasculation in today’s global environment.”

“We face threats that will include dampened demand for our goods and services and distortions in our financial sectors caused by de-risking by international banks. The CSME has the potential to enhance growth and competitiveness by providing access to a larger pool of resources, facilitating the movement of human capital, catalysing the establishment of regional businesses and encouraging the free movement of goods. The CSME must not be allowed to become a victim of equivocation and procrastination,” he said.

The conference chairman also addressed the area of food security and made the point that combined, Belize, Guyana and Suriname are bigger than Germany or even Japan.

“The community has the capability to meet its food needs. Food security would ensure the health and nutritional benefits for our people, to earn foreign exchange and eliminate the bloated bill of importing food. Ensuring regional food security is a cross sectoral task involving cooperation in agriculture , finance, health and nutrition among other sectors.”

“We have the land, we need to commit ourselves to the task of feeding ourselves. Food security can be advanced by the full utilisation of our lands, large scale investment in agriculture and agro-processing and by dismantling barriers to regional trade of agricultural products.”

Granger, while commending the community for the work done thus far, said there the need to intensify regional energy security efforts, which he said would ease the community’s energy sector of it’s addiction to fossil fuels and encourage the adoption of renewable sources of energy.

The chairman also stressed the importance of regional security, another essential pillar of the community.

He noted that the Caribbean is s vulnerable to narcotics trafficking and human trafficking, gun running, terrorism, penetration by international criminal cartels.

“Transnational criminal threats demand transnational functional cooperation,” he said.

“We live in uncertain times, we must continuously strengthen our security agriculture in order to assure our citizens and investors a greater security and stability. We must be vigilant also in the face of continuing threats in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our member states.

The spirit of Chagaramas is not a ghost, a jumbie or a dead promise. It is the vital breath of life that inspires us to intensify regional integration,” he said. (JH)

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