Caribbean news. As a West Indian who shared the times of Fred Cozier’s roles in theemergence of the independent Caribbean and of CARIFTA and later CARICOM, his passing conjures up for me the creative excitement of those pioneering years.
Fred’s was a safe pair of hands when we needed them – not just Barbados but the wider Caribbean. As the first Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign affairs of the newly independent Barbados, he helped to create his country’s foreign policy – a keystone of which was Caribbean regionalism.
In his capacity as the first Secretary-General of the then CARIFTA Secretariat in Georgetown, it was my privilege as then Attorney-General and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of Guyana, to welcome him there and help him in his foundation-laying task.
CARICOM is forever in his debt. I feel a personal sense of loss of one of our quiet but committed builders of this region’s institutions. RIP Fred…Sir Shridath Ramphal
