Address at the 24th Conference of the Institute of Charted Accountants of the Caribbean

• Author: Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur
• Pages: 392-400

392 CSME: Genesis and Prognosis

I do not believe that there has ever been a week in the history of Barbados

in which our nation has been more favoured with the assembly here of the

kind of financial talent and business acumen that have been gathered to

participate in a series of meetings whose effects will be felt for generations to

come.

I leave you today to participate in a Special Meeting of our region’s

Council for Finance and Planning which has been convened specifically to

determine how a Regional Development fund can be brought into existence.

On its creation possibly hangs the entire future of the Caribbean Single

Market and Economy.

The Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce is also meeting to

bring into existence a new Caribbean Business Council; a new institution

that has proposed to bring the regional private sector together in a more

representative way, and to enable it to function more effectively as a partner

in decision making on matters concerning a Single Caribbean Market and

Economy.

In such a context, this conference that has been designed to reflect on

matters such as the building of a Caribbean Investment Culture, the

harmonising of our currencies and a new era for the accounting profession

can only add significantly to the intellectual capital on which we can draw

to chart a better future.

It is in this spirit that I welcome you to Barbados, thank you for allowing

me to be associated in this significant way with one of the region’s most

successful institutions, and trust that this conference with its most provocative

theme will meet its every expectation.

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27 Address by the Rt. Hon. Owen Arthur,

Prime Minister of Barbados,

To the 24th Annual Conference of the Institute of

Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean

Barbados June 9, 2006