CÚPULA DA AMÉRICA LATINA E DO CARIBE SOBRE ... - Funag

CÚPULA DA AMÉRICA LATINA E DO CARIBE SOBRE INTEGRAÇÃO E DESENVOLVIMENTO - CALC
desarrollo, hacia la paz, hacia la justicia social y hacia la lucha contra la
depredación ambiental.
Muchas gracias.
Presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Obrigado, companheiro
Francisco Santos. Passo a palavra à Ministra Paula Gopee-Scoon, Ministra
de Trinidad e Tobago.
Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon - Your Excellency, Luiz Lula da Silva,
Heads of State and Governments. It is an honor for me to address this historic
Summit, and I speak on behalf of the Honorable Patrick Manning, Prime
Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, who is unable to attend the
Summit for reasons that are known to you and who sends his good wishes for
productive deliberations on the critical issues on the Summit agenda. I also
take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to the government of
Cuba for their solidarity and support and for the excellent medical attention
which Prime Minister Manning is receiving in Cuba. Allow me also to extend
deep appreciation to President Lula and to the government and people of
Brazil for the warm welcome accorded to my delegation and to myself, and
for the excellent arrangements which have been made for the Summit here in
this beautiful resort of Costa de Sauípe. The islands and coastal states that
make up the membership of the Caribbean community are strengthened by
centuries of shared history and experience, common values and perspectives,
culture, family ties, kinship and identity. Yet, these links together with the
constraints of small size, limited resources and a range of vulnerabilities have
led us not to pursue regional integration as a means of enhancing our viability
and capacity to survive.
Our integration has evolved to the first short lived West Indies Federation,
to the Caribbean Free Trade Area, to the Caribbean Community, to the
CARICOM single market and economy, for which a single market component
was established in 2006 with a single economy to be fully established by
2015. In August of this year, discussions on collaboration towards the
achievement of an economic union and appropriate political integration among
interested CARICOM states took place at the invitation of Prime Minister
Manning, and the initiative was taken in the context of economic and social
interdependence, common vulnerability, and sustainable issues, as well as the
impact of recent international developments such as the erosion of preferential
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