Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders entered their third full working day on July 3, aware of the need to implement new strategies that would make the integration movement more relevant and results- oriented.
President Bharrat Jagdeo
Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters that he was, so far, pleased with the discussions, which included the situation in Haiti, the ongoing efforts to restructure the Guyana-based Caricom Secretariat, and the need to “focus more on results rather than processes.
“For too long, we have held up those lofty ideals of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (which governs the regional integration movement) almost in a sacred way without focusing enough on how we break those down into projects and programmes… so that we can create real benefits for people.
“The only way we can change the perception of Caricom is not that it is vibrant and relevant; it is not just to do a public relations job, but the more ordinary people can feel regional initiative impacting on their lives… then they will start to say Caricom is working.
“So we agreed to that, and there is that sense of urgency that we need to create the mechanism for that new approach — a change in mindset. We have had a report from the consultants on the restructuring of the secretariat, and everyone who spoke said that it has to be results-oriented. “Everything in the Secretariat has to surround results.”
Jagdeo said that the discussions on the appointment of a new secretary general for the 15-member grouping had continued, with the emphasis being placed on finding someone “who we feel could lead that challenge”.
“I think things are going well so far. We may, in the long run, have to shorten the summit. If the European Union, with 27 countries, can meet in half a day, I think we can do it in a day and a half and have a tight, tight agenda with very practical outcomes.”
He said Thursday night’s five-and-a-half-hour opening ceremony had “created an urgency on the part of all of the heads that we could not go to a pre- Guyana situation… When we had the retreat there, we said we have to make a difference now. We have to focus more on results rather than process,” he said. He added that while Guyana’s constitution barred him from seeking a third consecutive term in office, he was prepared to continue supporting regional initiatives. “Whatever I can do to continue to support regional initiative, I would do so”.
But he made it clear that he was not interested in accepting the position of secretary general to replace Sir Edwin Carrington, who stepped down as the region’s top public servant, after 18 years, at the start of 2011. “I will be a private citizen, which I am not unhappy to be,” he said, adding when the suggestion was made for him to take over from Sir Edwin, “I said I don’t want to be secretary general of Caricom”.
Asked to explain his decision, Jagdeo laughed and added, “I am just not cut out for it. I am not cut out for it. I don’t want to get into all of that. I just would not like to be secretary general of Caricom. “I am not looking for a job right now,” he said. The Caricom Summit provides an opportunity for the regional heads of government to hold talks with government leaders from outside the grouping, and Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said he was looking forward to the region’s participation in the upcoming Sixth Summit of the Americas next year in Cartagena. “I come to tell you with sincere friendship that this is the time to walk together, supporting each other; waiting for those that have been left behind, and learning from those that have a faster pace,” he said. He said that the summit is a partnership at the highest political level “to find solutions to the problems the continent and islands of the Americas are facing”.
“It is a partnership, in other words, to deliver better living conditions to the peoples of our hemisphere. And in that context, Colombia wants to give special importance and priority to the needs of the Caribbean region.”
