Annual Report of the Secretary-General 2007

The year under review gave the citizens of the Caribbean Community a foretaste of some aspects of life in a fully integrated community. These glimpses came with the staging of the International Cricket Council CricketWorld Cup 2007 in the Caribbean and during the Conference on the Caribbean held in Washington DC, USA.

In many respects 2007 could prove in retrospect to be the spigot that opened the floodgates for a truly broad embrace of regionalism for a new generation of Caribbean people. It was the year that also produced the Declaration of Needham's Point with the title 'A Community for All" signalling a shift in emphasis with respect to functional co-operation and the approval of the Single Development Vision as laid out by a team led by Professor Norman Girvan. Either in and of themselves or as a group, these events provided tangible proof that regionalintegration is both much desired and eminently possible.