Your Excellency the President of Suriname and Mrs Venetiaan-Vanenburg
The Vice-President of Suriname
Speaker of the National Assembly
Honourable Ministers
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished Artists
Participants
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is my pleasure to bring you greetings on behalf of the Secretary-General and staff of the Caribbean Community Secretariat and indeed the entire CARICOM family.
SALUTATIONS!
I am proud today as Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community to welcome you all to CARIFESTA VIII in Suriname. This pride is heightened by the fact that this is the first time since my assumption of office in 1992 that this major Community event is being held in a non-English speaking country. Indeed it is only the second time in its 31-year history that CARIFESTA is being staged outside the English speaking Caribbean, having been held in Cuba in 1979.
When CARIFESTA VIII – the Caribbean’s premier cultural event - winds down on August 30th in Suriname, organisers hope they would have found the answer to one of the most important questions: “where do we go from here.”
CARIFESTA is returning to the mainland in August 2003, in a year when both host country –Suriname- and its CARICOM sister states have a lot to commemorate - CARICOM marked its 30th anniversary and Suriname commemorated the 140th anniversary of slavery abolishment, 150 years of Chinese immigration, 130 years of Indian immigration and 115 years of Indonesian immigration, the cultural richness of the Caribbean will fall in the spotlight.
The Suriname National Organising Committee has announced that the whole month of August will be dedicated to the celebration of Arts and Culture in the Caribbean. The Dutch republic will play host to the eighth CARIFESTA, which will be officially opened on 24th August in the capital, Paramaribo, and continuing for a period of seven days.
The CARIFESTA Committee has confirmed that plans are well underway to ensure a “unique” celebration of CARIFESTA.
Mr. Secretary-General,
My colleague, the British High Commissioner, representing the Presidency of the EU in Guyana
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Members of the media,
Special invitees,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On behalf of the European Commissioner for Development, Mr. Poul Nielson, I wish to express the Commission’s satisfaction on this occasion of the signing of the Regional Strategy Paper and Regional Indicative Programme.
The Region has been promised a cultural feast when the five-day celebrations of CARIFESTA VIII are hosted in Suriname
At a special launching ceremony held in Georgetown Friday last, a Suriname delegation led by Minister of Education and Community Development, Hon. Walter Sandriman unveiled the CARIFESTA logo, announced the slogan and released the jingle for what promises to be a most unique cultural blast, full of energy and diversity. Minister Sandriman called for support from all CARICOM Member States to ensure the success of the festival.
The Eighth Caribbean Festival for the Creative Arts (CARIFESTA) will be held in Suriname during the second half of next year. The host country, which holds the regional quasi-cabinet portfolio for Culture is going all out to ensure the success of the Festival scheduled for 25-30 August 2003.
We, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors meeting in Paramaribo, Suriname between 19-27 August 2002;
Recognising the high expectations of our performance as representatives of the National Youth Organisations and our obligations to the youth of this Region,
Considering the priorities of the Community established by the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government and the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) for intersectoral approaches to youth development.