TRANSPORT MINISTER CALLS FOR ASSISTANCE TO SMALLER STATES RE: TRANSPORT ISSUES

Minister Robert Pickersgill giving the opening address at the 9th WHTI Meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre.

Transport Minister, Hon. Robert Pickersgill has called for assistance to smaller CARICOM states within the Western Hemisphere Transport Initiative (WHTI) to improve their transportation capabilities with a view to having them meet international standards. He made these comments while giving the opening address at the 9th Executive Committee Meeting of the Western Hemisphere Transport Initiative at the Jamaica Conference Centre on Wednesday, August 23, 2006.

Continuing, the Minister said, “ We need to recognize that the smaller states especially those within the CARICOM Sub-region do not have the capacity to enhance their capabilities to the acceptable international standards and re-commit ourselves to assisting these states in tangible areas such as training and the procurement of new technologies that will help them to protect their borders.” The Minister noted that the WHTI would have to play an indispensable role in helping the hemisphere to confront those global realities that made small developing states more vulnerable and which retarded their development.

Turning to the matter of unity within the region (the Western Hemisphere), Minister Pickersgill highlighted the fact that the Ministers of Transport from the countries of the Summit of the Americas were united in the recognition that hemispheric cooperation and integration were an integral part of the broader Summit process. He acknowledged the link between adequate physical infrastructure and the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) to which member states had committed themselves. In situating the WHTI in the context of the global environment, Minister Pickersgill noted that it (the WHTI) “ must among other things, concentrate on pushing governments to accede to the various Conventions that will enhance the multi-dimensional areas relating to transport and encourage and nurture a community of practice in the hemisphere that will improve information sharing and enhance the technological and infrastructure development learning processes.”

In terms of Transport Infrastructure, Minister Pickersgill commented on the fact that every nation represented at the Meeting faced the challenge of building adequate and safe transport infrastructure. These changes he said, ranged from financing, environmental protection, project management and maintenance. To this end, he said that the WHTI must continue to play a catalytic role in the hemisphere by helping Governments to optimize their resources through meaningful partnerships and collaboration between states in a manner that will improve their technological, organizational and institutional capacity and capability.

Minister Pickersgill reminded the Meeting that member states had all committed themselves to halving poverty by the year 2015 and pledged the WHTI’s role in that particular process.

Permanent Secretary in the Transport Ministry, Dr. Alwin Hales who had earlier declared the meeting opened, used the opportunity to assert that the work that was being tackled at the WHTI Meeting should be viewed within the universal context of the quest for human security. He said that in this era of globalization, policy makers should concern themselves with establishing effective integration mechanisms across sectors, borders and regions.

The two day meeting will review the outcomes of the last ministerial meeting that was held in Brazil in August of last year and provide an update on several working groups including the Group of Experts on Airline Safety Aviation (GEASA) meeting that was held in Cartagena, Colombia in December of last year. It will also discuss the long term funding of WHTI as well as the greater participation of the private sector and regional organizations in WHTI.

The Western Hemisphere Transport Initiative evolved out of the 1998 Summit of the Americas held in Santiago, Chile. The main objective of the WHTI is to provide a forum for convergence and cooperation among the ministries responsible for transportation in member countries of the Summit of the Americas.

Twelve countries, including the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas are represented at the Meeting. Other states such as Haiti, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and St. Kitts & Nevis are being represented by their local diplomatic representatives.

Jamaica is the current chair of the Executive Committee of the WHTI with Brazil and the USA being the co-chairs.