High Commissioner of Trinidad & Tobago – Dr. Iva Gloudon receiving the FICAC Award of Appreciation from FICAC President Arnold Foote after delivering an excellent speech at the Caribbean Consul Conference held at the Pegasus Hotel on 25/7/11
High Commissioner Dr. Iva Gloudon in her address at the FICAC Caribbean Consular Conference said; It is a great honour to stand before you at this the Caribbean Regional Consular Conference. It is always good when any of our regional bodies come together with the aim of strengthening what we do as a region.
Let me allow my bias to immediately come to the fore. I am a true believer in the concept of Caribbean and CARICOM relations. I am the quintessential Caribbean person. My international sporting background as an international field hockey athlete and my University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago experience as the Director of Sport & Physical Education, allowed me to see Caribbean and regional unity at its best and to forever broaden my perspective from national to regional. These experiences have also allowed me to see ourselves in the Caribbean at our worst, but these instances are far outweighed by our best.
Our Caribbean region has an estimated population of fortytwo (42) million. CARICOM’s population is estimated at sixteen (16) million. Within these communities we have countries with populations that are less than fifty (50) thousand and economies that are reeling from global economic situations.
It is, therefore, generally agreed that our ability to operate regionally is not merely cosmetic, but it becomes a matter of survival. And today we come together to continue to reinforce what we are doing and to seek ways for all of us in general and you Consuls in particular to enhance Intra-Caribbean relations.
Many of you are involved with trade and trade related issues and are links between the sending and receiving states. We note that several contentious trade issues seem to always arise between member states. Several of these issues occur because of a lack of transparency in the implementation of trade measures.
There is also a lack of information and communication which often results in a vacuum which then allows for speculation from the public and the media. This, therefore, calls for the strengthening of channels and mechanisms designed to ease such frictions in intra-regional trade.
Strengthening two-way communication mechanism could enhance such transparency and eliminate misunderstanding in intra-regional trading relationships. Indeed, improvement in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) regionally would also assist with many regional issues.
Increased coordination among us in the Caribbean and CARICOM on a range of issues that require a harmonized approach such as foreign policy, finance, agriculture, tourism and trade will greatly assist and enhance our relations.
There are several other important trade issues that we can discuss, but suffice it to say that at the CARICOM level we need to implement the negotiated bilateral trade arrangements. The CARICOMCosta Rica arrangement is one such agreement which has not received uniform support among CARICOM members. Moreover nonimplementation of the obligations under trade agreements has had a negative impact on the meetings of the Joint Councils.
Permit me to say, that while my discussion so far has focused on trade, it is my belief that much of what we are trying to accomplish has failed because we seem to focus on Intra-Caribbean and CARICOM relationship at the level of Government.
It seems to me that greater emphasis must be placed on the relationships among the people of the Caribbean and CARICOM. Much of this has to come from movement of peoples around the region. And not just under the umbrella of movement to secure work in other territories.
At the beginning of this presentation I spoke about sporting and educational instances that brought persons in the region together. It is people who have to get to know each other in order to trust each other and to understand the common regional goals. Cultural exchanges and regional tourism, in all its forms, are great ways to foster positive relationships in the region.
I do not know, for instance, how many of you knew or knew about Lystra Lewis. Lystra was a national, regional and international pioneer in the sport of netball. She single handedly taught the game to schools in Trinidad & Tobago. There was a time when every primary and secondary school in Trinidad & Tobago, over six hundred schools, had at least one netball team. These teams were formed as a direct result of her initiatives including widespread national coaching courses that she led for the nation’s teachers.
Lystra was also the champion organizer of national club netball and the coach of the Trinidad & Tobago team that jointly held the World title in 1979. Outside of Australia, New Zealand and England; Trinidad & Tobago is the only other country to have been World Netball Champions.
Lystra told me the story of how she encouraged the late Dr. Eric Williams, our country’s first Prime Minister, to come to see a game at the Caribbean Championships held at one of our local netball courts. This was a Trinidad & Tobago game against one of the smaller Caribbean islands.
Trinidad & Tobago won this encounter by a wide margin. After the game, Dr. Williams invited Lystra to get in touch with his office to schedule a date when she would meet with him. At that meeting Dr. Williams told Lystra that it was not good enough to be constantly trouncing her Caribbean neighbours.At the presentation with Hon. Kenneth Baugh, is United States Ambasador H.E. Pamela E. Bridgewater. Also in picture are World Federation of Consuls President, The Honourable Arnold Foote OJ and Director Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig.
This was a great surprise to Lystra as with all sport, she knew that the aim was to win. So why would this eminent man be so crestfallen that our country had succeeded; had won, not just the match, but the tournament? Dr. Williams took Lystra to school on the issue of Intra Caribbean relations. He told her that she should not be so focused on beating up on a weak opponent, but instead teach the rudiments and fundamentals of the game to our Caribbean neighbours, thereby fostering keenly contested games and, more importantly, building Caribbean camaraderie and Caribbean unity.
Dr. Williams, unlike many people, proceeded to put his money where his mouth was. He provided Lystra with the budget and all of the other necessary resources and she embarked on the task, spreading and improving the game throughout the region. Much of what we see today in Caribbean netball is as a result of her efforts. Many of the netball athletes, officials and coaches owe their competence in the game to the work of Lystra Lewis. Indeed, the current President of the World netball body, Molly Rhone, is a product of the Lystra movement. And build Caribbean relations, through the sport of netball, Lystra did!
Earlier in this discussion I pointed out that success in Intra Caribbean and CARICOM relation depended on increased coordination among us on a range of issues that require a harmonized approach. We saw an attempt at this during the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Regional governments and law makers came together to enact laws and procedures to enhance travel and other logistics during this international tournament which was hosted by the West Indies in several countries in the region. It is time that we address such issues for everyday movement and applications in the region.
The problems with that tournament, however, came largely because we in the Caribbean continue to be wary of and isolated from each other.
We do not understand each other. We consequently, in the case of this international cricket tournament, did not focus on our similarities nor did we essentially embrace our difference.
As a result, we had a foreign entity entice us into a global competition, come to our region and totally overshadow our sporting culture. We built stadia that were not relevant to our Caribbean culture. Most were too large for the size and economy of the countries leaving us with white elephants.
We even bought into playing surfaces that were not in sync with our weather, our water or our wealth. We were encouraged and accepted that we should deviate from our hardy, tropical grass that was suitable to our weather patterns and switched to a grass that is temperamental, difficult and expensive to maintain and needing a full time, all year round expert grounds crew.
And these grounds needed water and more water – a scarce commodity in our region. I know of this first hand as the Sport Centre at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago acquired one of these practice grounds for the tournament. We dug a well at the table of non-chlorinated water and have the capacity to dump thirty thousand gallons of water onto the field. This is the amount of water that it takes daily, especially during the dry season and season of drought to keep that grass green. Let me not bore you with the details of the chemicals and machinery that is necessary to keep all of this going.
And as if all of this was not bad enough, we were forced to curtail our traditional music, entertainment and food that are the hallmark of Caribbean cricket. Much of this was for the sake of tourist that never came in the anticipated droves.
Dean of Consular Corp of Trinidad & Tobago, Mr. Amer Haidar. Consul for Bahamas, Dr. Monica Davis, Minister of Transport & Works Hon. L. Michael Henry, High Commissioner of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Iva Gloudon.
This all was very much in keeping with the pattern of Intra Caribbean and CARICOM relations. Those at the top are satisfied. The West Indies Cricket Board made money; but the people of the region are left wanting. Many of the small concessionaires did not generate the revenue that they were anticipating and cricket fans were not truly able to enjoy the tournament.
The lesson that I hope that we learned is that Caribbean and CARICOM relationships must be seen through the eyes of the people of the region. It is the people who will eventually cause this to happen and they cannot be left out of the equation. A key factor to this is that greater availability of Intra-Caribbean air and maritime travel services for the people of the Caribbean and CARICOM, at affordable rates, must be seen as a priority. It cannot be that air travel to New York and Miami from Caribbean islands are cheaper than air travel between islands. This, along with the removal of travel irritants at regional borders and treatment of nationals of member states on entry at air and sea ports has to be improved.
Change may be painfully slow, but often begins with one person. We have to see ourselves as that one person who will begin the process. And often we begin this in simple ways. We need to find renewed vigour in these challenging economic times to influence governments, business and other organizations to see the value in these cultural and sporting exchanges and regional tourism as a platform for bringing the region together.
Minister of Transport and Works, Hon. Mike Henry, receives the FICAC Medal of Appreciation from FICAC
Director, Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, after he delivered his keynote address at the FICAC Caribbean Consular Conference Awards Dinner. It was an excellent speech which was both interesting and informative.
Also in picture are Dean of the Consular Corps of Jamaica, The Honourable Arnold Foote OJ and Vice
Dean of the Consular Corps of Jamaica, Mr. Grantley Stephenson.
Money is certainly an issue. We have seen instance where programmes like Carifesta have fallen off the radar of Caribbean and CARICOM cultural exchange. That should, however, not daunt our spirits. We need to develop these exchanges on a smaller scale. Let me share an example of a situation where approximately forty (40) persons are scheduled to visit Jamaica from Trinidad & Tobago later this year.
These are senior citizens between the ages of sixty-five (65) and ninety (90) whom I have been in collaboration with, as Director of Sport & Physical Education at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, for the past three years. They are a group that comes together for the purpose of group activity for senior citizens in Trinidad & Tobago.
One of their activities is aerobic exercise and aerobic dance. The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Sport & Physical Education Centre provides expertise to lead the sessions, facilities, assistance with transportation and general expertise to this group. The group has now decided that they want to travel overseas. We are arranging for them to come to Jamaica and along with the Mona Campus will have an array of activity planned for them which will see them visit their counterparts in Jamaica and conduct an exhibition of their aerobic skills thereby encouraging and fostering healthy lifestyle for senior citizens in Jamaica.
Intra Caribbean and CARICOM relations at the level of the people.
While my examples have been in the area of Sport & Physical Education please understand that our attempts are not limited to these areas. The main concept is that we can use our positions and initiatives to infiltrate and infuse our region with people exchanges which will foster movement among our states and get our peoples to know each other.
We need to find renewed vigour in convincing all that this is a MATTER OF SURVIVAL.
