As we told you last night - Dominica's Prime Minister will be the guest of honour at the 32nd Anniversary of Belize's Independence. Skerrit arrived in the country this morning and we caught him at the airport. At only 41 years old, he's serving his second term as Prime Minister - but he told us the difficulties of governance are the same whether young or old, small nation or large. Skerrit opened by explaining why' he's happy to be here:...
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
"I am here really to celebrate with the Belizean people. You have a wonderful country, wonderful people and I think you in Belize underestimate the important role you play in the wider Caricom family. Belize is a very important member of Caricom and has been instrumental in leading the way in a number of important issues within the Caricom region. For example, Belize has lead the way in the issues relating to climate change and the environment and also with the Caribbean Court of Justice. Belize is one of few countries within Caricom who has join on to the CCJ."
"Belize continues to play an important role notwithstanding its geographic distance away from Caricom."
Jules Vasquez
"How do you see the destiny of your nation link with ours in terms of we are a much larger geographical land mass?"
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
"The point is that all of us are experiencing the same challenges; issues of drug trafficking, issues of crime and violence, issues of HIV Aids, climate change, the economic challenges."
Jules Vasquez
"You are a very young leader. When you first became leader in 2004, head of government - you were the youngest in the world as the time and you still remain very young especially among your colleagues in the region. There is a feeling that a lot of the malacy that affects the Caribbean is because there is a generational gap between how the younger persons see things and the older persons who are mostly in charge see things."
Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
"I do not necessary believe that there is a major issue of generational gap. I think it's a matter of us understanding that we have to work together. Those of us who sit out of government do not know the real challenges like those of us who are in government. I can tell you because of my experience - I have been Prime Minister of my country for the past 10 years - what you think is going on in government is completely different. It is a very difficult place to be especially in this global crisis. Very challenging, you have increase expenditure, more demands, monies have to be spent on education and healthcare and improving the infrastructure and security because of the high incidents of drug trafficking in our region."
Skerrit called on the Prime Minister at 2:00 this afternoon. And if you don't know much about Dominica, it's a small island nation in the Eastern Caribbean with a population of just over seventy thousand. Their main export to Belize is the up and coming Kubuli Beer - which is competitively priced because of the Common External Tarriff amongst Caricom nations.
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