It gives me great pleasure this morning to welcome you to Guyana on behalf of His Excellency President Donald Ramotar, the Government and people of Guyana.

I look forward to participating in the discussions of this 26th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development that will allow us to focus on the specific issues relating to labour and gender in our region, in particular as these relate to the systems of the CARICOM Single Market.   Over the next two days as we assess the progress made, share best practices, and address the challenges that have to be overcome in the consolidation of the regional integration process, it is my hope that we can come up with solid recommendations within the scope of our meeting’s agenda that can be implemented to help us to contribute towards achieving the goal of regional integration.

Let me end by reiterating the firm commitment of the Government of Guyana to the objectives of the Caribbean Community and to the strengthening of the institutional mechanisms that support its work.