(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) January 23 is a date of special significance to the people of the Caribbean Community and in particular to the people of Saint Lucia.

Two of the Caribbean’s Nobel Laureates, the late Sir Arthur Lewis and Mr Derek Walcott were born on 23 January in Saint Lucia, 15 years apart. Sir Arthur, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1979 and died in 1991, was born on 23 January 1915, while Mr Walcott, who earned his Nobel Prize for Literature in 1992, was born on 23 January 1930.

The Community’s affinity with that date does not end there as His Excellency the President of Guyana, Mr Bharat Jagdeo was born on 23 January 1964.

In extending birthday greetings to Mr Walcott and President Jagdeo, CARICOM Secretary-General, His Excellency Edwin Carrington noted light-heartedly that “I too was born on the 23rd – but of June.”