Jon L. Christensen: “as a daughter of the Caribbean and the only member of the House from the English-speaking Caribbean, I rise in strong…”

“as a daughter of the Caribbean and the only member of the House from the English-speaking Caribbean, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 418, which recognizes and welcomes the delegation of Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Foreign Ministers from the Caribbean to Washington, DC, and commends the Caribbean Community, CARICOM, for holding their Conference on the Caribbean. It is with great pride that I join my colleagues in applauding the heads of Government of the CARICOM Caribbean Community of nations for convening their conference on the Caribbean--A 20/20 Vision--here in Washington. The theme of the conference is: CARICOM DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21st Century: Economic Growth with Social Equity. I want to thank and commend my colleague and friend the chairman of the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Representative Engel for introducing H. Res. 418 and for shepherding it on to the floor of the House today. Mr. Speaker, the nations of the Caribbean, some of the longest and most stable democracies in the region, have long been among our closest friends and staunchest allies. In recent years, the region was described as America's ``third border'' because events there have a direct impact on the security of the United States. However, while we have made statements about bolstering political and economic stability in the region, the reality is that our friends to the south have been suffering from our benign neglect.”