Caribbean Games 2009 – One-year countdown

The St Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Committee had provided Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, with a brief in respect of the Caribbean Games, urging his intervention on the subject at the Caricom Conference in Antigua and Barbuda. Following the receipt of favourable comments from Prime Minister Gonsalves on his intervention at the Conference and the overwhelming support of the Heads of Government for the event, the NOC found it necessary to express its most sincere gratitude to Dr Gonsalves. The letter stated in part:
On behalf of the St Vincent and the Grenadines National Olympic Committee, the Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees (CANOC) and the
Organizing Committee of the Caribbean Games 2009 (OCCG), I wish to express our most sincere gratitude for your kind intervention and support in respect of the Caribbean Games at the recently concluded CARICOM Heads of Government
Conference held in Antigua and Barbuda.
We all acknowledge your continued and unflinching support for the regional integration process and certainly do appreciate the support that you have given to this important sporting initiative which, of course, is being hosted by your counterpart, fellow student and long time friend, Mr Patrick Manning, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
We hope that these Caribbean Games will serve to meet its stated Mission of facilitating our Caribbean peoples with an opportunity to see their very best athletes perform before their very eyes.
Of course, throughout the Caribbean NOCs have been expressing their own gratitude for their governmental support one year ahead of the commencement of the Caribbean Games. This is as it should be since participation in the Games would require the contributions of the respective governments.
Kudos must be given to the government of Trinidad and Tobago for stepping forward to be the hosts of the Inaugural Caribbean Games and so etch a very special place in the region’s rich sporting history.