(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The regional integration movement has become stronger as a result of the relations between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Cuba.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the Fourth CARICOM-Cuba Summit at the National Academy of the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, the host Prime Minister the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the Summit was proof that the vision of the founding fathers who went to Cuba in 1972 had been fulfilled.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said it was the vision of a Caribbean Civilisation encompassing Cuba that motivated the four leaders to lift Cuba from the “indignity of isolation”.

The Prime Minister alluded to the coming into being of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and saw in it an optimistic future for the Region. Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar saw the new organisation as South-South Co-operation at its best and not as a replacement for any other existing organisation.

Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said “we owe it to ourselves” to build on the opportunities for renewed co-operation which CELAC presented in “this new world”.