EDITORIAL: ‘Stoking fires’ for regional integration

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados - Apparently now more disposed to striking a militant posture to influence decision-making processes at the Caribbean Community Secretariat, Secretary General Irwin LaRocque made a spirited intervention at last week’s ministerial meeting of the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED).
First, he joined Guyana’s Foreign Minister Carolyn Rodriques-Birkett in calling for regional private sector representation at COTED meetings. Secondly, he felt it necessary to urge COTED ministers to “stoke fires of integration” this year when CARICOM is marking its 40th anniversary.
A week ago today, in lamenting an evident “word game” instead of required positive action to fundamentally change the community’s management architecture, our editorial, titled New CARICOM Language, concluded: “We can only hope – rather than despair – that a so-called ‘change-facilitation team’, established to support Secretary General LaRocque, succeeded in coming  forward with some tangible, practical ‘deliverables’ for action when CARICOM leaders meet for their annual summit in Trinidad and Tobago in July”.