In a passionate address, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller drew spontaneous applause as she spoke yesterday of the beauty of steel pan music, the revolutionary power of reggae and the athletic prowess of Caribbean athletes at the London Olympics.
She was addressing a ceremony in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre. The Caricom Treaty was signed in Trinidad and Tobago 40 years ago.
Simpson Miller said: “We, the Caribbean, are a great people whose spirit continues to infuse the world with music, colour, spice, vibrancy and excitement. No challenge can daunt a people who created the technology that makes sweet music from steel pans. No problem can stop people whose reggae musical forms have inspired revolutionary change across the world.
“What can deter peoples whose athletic prowess defies the laws of physics and whose depth of thought is seen [as] distinguished scholarship.
