PRIME MINISTER THE HONOURABLE BALDWIN SPENCER
REMARKS TO NATIONALS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA
AND OTHER CARICOM COUNTRIES IN THE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA

September 21, 2004
Renaissance Washington DC Hotel

Your Excellency, Ambassador Deborah-Mae Lovell;
My Antiguan and Barbudan Sisters and Brothers;
Members of the staff of the Embassy:
My West Indian Brothers and Sisters;
Friends of Antigua and Barbuda and the West Indies:

I feel completely at home here in Washington tonight. We are here tonight as one Family.

As our Jamaican brothers and sisters say, “One Love.”

One Love.

One Family.

This is a time of mixed fortunes and mixed emotions for the extended West Indian family, for the West Indian Diaspora.

It can be said that for us West Indians, this is the best of times and the worst of times.

We are all confronted with the damage in Jamaica and with the devastation in Grenada that Ivan, the terrible Hurricane has inflicted.

We are also confronted with the damage that other hurricanes have inflicted on other Caribbean islands.

Now, we are confronted by the threat of Hurricane Lisa.

Faced with adversity, we are all One Family.

We are also One Family as we celebrate the successes of our female athletes from Jamaica and the Bahamas.

To their competitors in the Athens Olympics and at world championships, the female track stars of the Caribbean are faster that speeding bullets.

To the cricketing world - and to South Africa in particular - the West Indies cricket team is rising again.

I think you will agree with me that the West Indies victory over South Africa on Sunday, and the ravages of recent hurricanes deserve at least one chorus of David Rudder’s cricketing anthem, “Rally Round the West Indies”.

Let’s all join in the chorus.

Somebody has to start it.

I could carry a tune even it would make me an instant millionaire.

Please let’s get it going:

“Rally… Rally… Rally ‘round the West Indies.

“Rally… Rally… Rally ‘round the West Indies.

One more time:

Rally… Rally… Rally for the West Indies.

Let us do it one time for tomorrow’s ICC Championship Semi Final between the West Indies and Pakistan.

This time, let us sing it so loudly that they will hear at the Rose Bowl in England.

Rally… Rally… Rally ‘round the West Indies.

In times of adversity, as in times of success, the English speaking people of the Caribbean have what has now become the West Indian Anthem.

Rally “round the West Indies.

My Fellow Antiguans and Barbudans:

My West Indian brothers and sisters:

Being in DC five weeks before the Presidential Election is like being in Antigua and Barbuda six months ago.

The difference, of course, is that the Elections in Antigua and Barbuda, as I recall it, was a much more civilized affair.

The results of the elections in Antigua and Barbuda in March were much easier to predict than it is to pick a winner between President Bush and Senator Kerry.

The issues in the election in Antigua and Barbuda six months ago were much easier to identify than is the case in the USA just weeks away from Election Day.

Here in America, the voters are still pondering over the war in Iraq; the Economy; Health Care; the search for Al Queda; Stem Cell Research; Same Sex Marriages; and homeland security.

In the Antigua and Barbuda elections, there was one issue, and one issue only:

Government in the Sunshine!

No matter what was the colour of your wardrobe, the issue in Antigua and Barbuda six months ago was:

Government in the Sunshine.

Day after tomorrow, Thursday, September 23, will mark the first six months of the first term of Government in the Sunshine.

It’s been six challenging months.

Change is always challenging.

Change, after twenty-eight years, is extraordinarily challenging.

I had to lead the Government without a single file in the Prime Minister’s Office.

Records had been removed from other government offices as well.

We had no brief on the Government ‘s priorities.

We had no explanation for precisely how the country had accumulated public sector debt in the region of $3 Billion.

That is a frightening amount of debt for a country with an annual budget of less than $500,000, 000.

There is no uncertainty about the major issue now facing Antigua and Barbuda.

The major issue is the economy.

Despite the challenge we face, the Fiscal Report on Antigua and Barbuda for the period ending June 2004 shows positive performance in a number of key areas.

Government Revenue in the second quarter of 2004 is more than 30 percent above the revenue for the same period last year…..

Government Revenue for the first six months of 2004 is more than 30% above the revenue for the same period in 2003.

Parallel with the increase in government revenue, we have cut government spending.

When you factor in the 15.35 percent in visitor arrivals in the first six months of 2004 compared to the corresponding period last year, the conclusion can only be that Antigua and Barbuda’s stock is rising.

On key fiscal indices, the Sunshine Government’s performance in our first six months in office is decidedly positive.

In spite of the challenges we face, we are implementing measures to ease the squeeze on vulnerable groups in our society.

In the face of rising oil prices, we have held down the price of gas and diesel at the service station pump.

We have reduced the cost of utilities for senior citizens of modest means.

We have exempted senior citizens from Airport Departure Taxes.

We are providing every child in every Primary and Secondary School in Antigua and Barbuda with two sets of School Uniforms, at no cost to parents.

I think market analysts would say that the value of Antigua and Barbuda’s stock is definitely on the upswing.

We are removing duties and taxes on Christmas Gift Barrels.

Antiguans and Barbudans will pay only One Dollar a Barrel on gift Barrels this Christmas.

I imagine some of you are already getting ready to pack and ship your Dollar Barrels.

It’s no bed of roses in the economy, but we are managing judiciously, and the results prove this.

Antigua and Barbuda’s stocks are definitely rising in the international investment community.

The Government is currently processing proposals for significant resort projects that are expected to be operated by such premium groups as Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton.

The Royal Antiguan, which has been purchased by a hotel group already operating in Grenada, Barbados, and Trinidad, is likely to operate under the brand of another major international group as “The Grand Royal Antiguan”.

I want to invite everyone in this gathering to visit Antigua and Barbuda next month for the first Independence Homecoming Festival.

Communities across Antigua and Barbuda are preparing for the Community Pride Presentations.

This will involve community activity in song, dance, drama, comedy, poetry, craft and cuisine.

We expect that the Community Pride Food Fair alone will be worth the trip for the Independence Homecoming Festival.

Reports are that every young lady in Antigua and Barbuda wants to be the first Independence Homecoming Queen.

Everyone will want to join and jump up in the Homecoming Street Parade on Independence Day.

“Jubilation!” the inaugural World Gospel Festival” will be an unforgettable experience.

The Inaugural Antigua and Barbuda’s Independence Gala State Banquet and Ball will crown the Independence Day events.

I look forward to welcoming everyone in this gathering when you come to Antigua and Barbuda for the Independence Homecoming Festival.

I also want to welcome you as contributors, and as investors in the reconstruction and renewal of Antigua and Barbuda that is currently taking place, and gathering momentum.

The Sunshine Government is looking at proposals for transforming St. John’s into a 21st Century Capital City.

We are looking at proposals for a new airport terminal.

We are looking at a proposal for a new swift ferry between Antigua and Barbuda.

The relationship between Barbuda and Antigua is better than ever before.

We want Antiguans and Barbudans, and all our West Indian brothers and sisters who are here in the United States to invest their talent, their enterprise and their capital in Antigua and Barbuda.

You will find an investment environment in Antigua and Barbuda that is conducive to profitability.

The Sunshine Government has drafted legislation for energizing small business and for supporting new entrepreneurs.

We have introduced anti-corruption legislation.

We are about to introduce a freedom of Information Act.

We are drafting Equal Opportunity Legislation.

I would like you all to be part of the action in rebuilding our Antigua and Barbuda.

The Sunshine Government is putting incentives in place to make enterprises genuinely competitive in the Caribbean Single Market; in the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and for Cricket World Cup in 2007.

The Sunshine Government is working to make Antigua and Barbuda a land of sustainable opportunity.

We are planning for growth and prosperity that will be sustainable.

We will not repeat the mistakes of the past.

We have already made significant progress in winning respect in the investment community and in the international community of nations.

Now is the time for Antigua and Barbuda’s sons and daughters who have left their homeland to be builders as well as beneficiaries of a truly participatory democracy; and a just, compassionate and prosperous society in we will all be One Family.

The Caribbean Festival Park will be a permanent showcase of the diverse Caribbean essences that now define Antigua and Barbuda.

The Caribbean Festival Park will be a unique cultural and shopping experience that will be a permanent celebration of the spirit of the Caribbean.

The Caribbean Festival Park will offer a variety of opportunities for investment in Antigua and Barbuda.

Inquiries for shops, restaurants and craft and art markets in the Caribbean Festival Park are already pouring in.

I hope many of you will be involved in this exciting project.

The Sunshine Government has enacted the Millennium Naturalisation Act, which confers full and unconditional citizenship on all persons from other countries who were resident in Antigua and Barbuda on the first day of the new Millennium and have been resident in the country since that day.

My West Indian brothers and sisters:

The theme for the Independence Homecoming Festival is “Antigua and Barbuda - One Family.”

I am confident that everyone here feels a member of One Family.

That’s the way God meant it.

That’s the way we must try to make it.

One Family.

One Love.

God bless you all.

I thank you.