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he pointed to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic by countries as an example of a story of triumph that led to a strengthened Caribbean brand. Principal Landis stated, “There can be no doubt that even greater regional cooperation is now urgently required to help mitigate the grave new external threats that have exposed the Caribbean’s vulnerabilities to our most basic needs of food and energy security.” Chair of the Board of Directors of The UWI Press, Pro Vice- Chancellor and Principal of The UWI, Five Islands Campus Professor Densil Williams described Sir Alister as one of the foremost intellectual giants of the Caribbean who left an indelible mark on the region. He said Sir Alister carved out a space for context-specific theorising and empirical analyses based on one’s circumstances as opposed to the application of a cut-and-paste, unbridled, neo- liberal approach to development. Professor Williams said, at the same time, the development
economist was not insular in his intellectual thought, as he embraced the global village within which the Caribbean operates. Turning his attention to the volumes, Professor Williams said the editors carefully and painstakingly selected works of Sir Alister that reflected his intellectual contribution to development discourse by looking at issues such as decolonisation and trade policy in the West Indies, towards a new international economic order, small countries in the world economy, governance and decentralisation in the context of a regional university, among many other insightful thoughts. “The speeches, academic papers and notes all provide critical insights into the framing of a localised intellectual discourse on regional development which can lay the foundation for the development and execution of homegrown policies and institutions to support our developmental efforts,” Professor Williams stated. He added that Sir Alister provided a guide that would allow the Caribbean to participate in this new global economy on its proverbial feet rather than on its knees. President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) , Dr. Hyginus “Gene” Leon said the bank can trace its antecedents to
Professor Clive Landis Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal The UWI, Cave Hill Campus
in financing the public sector, currently exist. She agreed with Sir Alister’s position that the regional integration movement must propel the Caribbean and reaffirmed her stance that international financial institutions needed to be repurposed to accommodate the uniqueness of Caribbean economies. “I trust and pray that this great work, two volumes of almost 600 pages of rich Caribbean thought and writing, will help us in this effort not to shy away from our role in the shaping of global financial institutions or in regional development thought but to propel us at a pace that will allow us to see greater progress than they would have seen without the benefit of this work.” Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Cave Hill Campus Professor Clive Landis said the material covered in the volumes is critical to helping drive Caribbean development in light of the existence of multiple external threats. He had strong hope for the continued success of the region as
Professor Densil Williams Chair of the Board of Directors, The UWI Press;
Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal, The UWI, Five Islands Campus
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