I would like to start by warmly congratulating the inductees into our Hall of Fame this evening. The chamber is proud to honour them, and those who are here on their behalf should feel a great sense of pride at what they have achieved.

While the general election itself was virtually incident free, the same cannot be said of the run up to the election which, unfortunately, was marred by a disturbing increase in vandalism, violence and intimidation. This must never be repeated.

Many fundamental and deep-seated issues were raised on the various platforms in the recently concluded general election. These issues must now be addressed once and for all. Starting with the alleviation of the scourge of crime, the number one issue in this country. Accordingly, the implementation of the DNA act, together with the immediate enforcement of all laws, including all litter and traffic regulations is now mandatory together with the implementation of the breathalyser test and radar screening devices; installation of the proposed traffic cameras, upgrade of the police service; upgrading, resourcing and computerisation of all police stations and magistrates courts; development of special courts such as the Traffic Court, and the provision of swift justice for all.

Fast-tracking of all national infrastructure, freeways and mass transit systems to eliminate the ever increasing gridlock and loss of productivity is also a major national issue as is the computerisation and decentralisation of all government services, (case in point is the Licensing Division which in 2007 incredibly remains a manual operation), and the enactment of appropriate legislation to streamline the construction sector, together with the commensurate implementation of the procurement policy for proper transparency.

Additionally, the agricultural sector must be given immediate attention to effect a meaningful reduction in both high food prices and inflation and a determined, focused programme for getting it right in the social services sector and the Central Statistical Office has now become critical.

The economy of our twin-island is, in my view, in the most crucial and perhaps most precarious phase of its long-term development. This, because the country has been fortuitously provided with the resources, and thereby a window of opportunity, to become a comprehensively diversified world-class economy. But it’s a window that won’t last forever, and quite possibly will never return.

While the country’s plan for diversification has so far been the pursuit of a multipronged oil and gas hydrocarbon-based industrial strategy, including the development of the plastics and aluminum industries, both in themselves dependent on hydrocarbons, the chamber is of the strong belief that not enough meaningful attention is being given to the development of the non-hydrocarbon sector. And when analysed in context of an increasing non-hydrocarbon sector deficit, and an inflation rate of 7.3 per cent, existing attempts at diversification away from the hydrocarbon sector appears, at least in the chamber’s view, to be via the drip method at best.

In my view, in order to truly effect diversification two things must happen. One, there must be the political will to do so. And two, the economy must comprise a robust combination of both a maximised hydrocarbon sector and a specifically defined and maximised non- hydrocarbon sector.

Our oil and natural gas industry is one in which we have focused our energies and have become globally recognised players while doing so. We have become very good at this business. We must therefore maximise it and play it for all that it’s worth.

But we should not allow ourselves to be lulled into a false sense of security or complacency while the going is good. Because we should have learned from the 80s that unless we resolve and commit to remove our economy’s vulnerability from the vagaries of the global oil and gas sector, history could well repeat itself. It must be remembered that we have no control over the price of oil or gas and both are finite resources.

I strongly contend that we can no longer afford to keep all of our eggs in one basket, for that, as we’ve already experienced, is very risky business.

And so—in tandem with, or in addition to—the maximisation of our oil and gas recourses, the chamber believes that the Government must facilitate, on an on-going basis, the development of many different sectors, including the designated seven which are already in play, together with agriculture, an obvious necessity.

But, while supporting the development of many, the chamber strongly advocates that there must be a very definite focus on a few. We cannot be jacks-of-all-trades and, at the same time, be masters of all. We thus must allow for the development of the many, but focus, meaning really concentrate, our attention on a few, and execute those few very well; exactly as we did with our hugely successful hydrocarbon and manufacturing sectors. This to allow our country to develop a solid multilayered economy where each stratum supports, but is not dependent on the other, and where the sum total of the parts is far greater than that which currently obtains.

And so it is proposed that in addition to our hydrocarbon and manufacturing sectors, our focus should be on the following few:

1. Information communications technology or ICT, the enabling wave of the future. And in direct accord with the international ICT consultants on the ground here in Trinidad, we must focus our attention to the development of specialised clusters in both the mega billion dollar US healthcare outsourcing sector, and the global energy services sector.

2. Parlay our robust financial services sector coupled with our strategic hemispheric location into a dynamically niched International Financial Centre (IFC).

3. Decide, meaning, finally get serious about and totally committed to the development of tourism. Every country, if not every major city in the world, has a thriving tourism industry; one of the largest growth sectors in the world. T&T, however, has opted to virtually neglect this industry. But with our hugely rich and diverse culture and geography, tourism in T&T, is a sleeping giant just waiting for the right will to make it happen. And when it does—as it must—I predict that it will be a winner.

All three of these identified sectors can be funded and fast-tracked by the hydrocarbon sector. And while they all can be classified as entities unto themselves, there is a powerful inter-connective synergy between the three of them.

An economy with an IFC automatically embraces ICT, and once both are in place, tourism, on a major scale, is defined and assured.