Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General, Edwin Carrington, has expressed “deep sadness” at the death of Barbados prime minister David Thompson, who died Saturday after a prolonged battle with pancreatic cancer.
Carrington, who is here attending the activities marking Caribbean Week of Agriculture (CWA) and the meeting of the CARICOM Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) said “we had all been generally aware of the serious nature of his affliction with pancreatic cancer but had been hoping and praying that somehow he would have overcome this challenge.
“Well it was not to be and we are all deeply saddened by his passing,” the Secretary-General said.
“His short term as Prime Minister of Barbados and thus Member of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community did not afford him the opportunity and scope to make the full contribution his talents promised to bring to the integration process at that level,” he added.
Carrington said that Thompson’s deliberate, evidence-based approach to issues and the search for their resolution, while not always popular, sought to provide a well-grounded basis for decision making.
“His calm, deliberate manner also served to facilitate the discussions of the most delicate and difficult matters at the highest level. Those said qualities endeared him to most of us.
“To his wife Mara, his daughters and other members of his family and to the Government and people of Barbados, we join in mourning the loss of this outstanding Caribbean son of the soil,” Carrington ended.
The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) also extended their sympathies to the family of the late prime minister.
CTO said “despite the prior knowledge of his illness, the passing of Prime Minister Thompson at the early age of 48 must come as a shock to the people of Barbados, whose prayers and outpouring of support have been unceasing.
“Prime Minister Thompson was steadfast in his commitment to the CTO. His support was evident in Barbados’ kind hosting of major CTO events during his tenure – the 11th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism and the first ever Leadership Strategy Conference – and his dedication to the cause of the Caribbean’s economic prosperity through tourism.”
It said that he was also “personally involved in advocating the issues of regional tourism at the highest levels overseas as well as throughout the Caribbean. We will forever cherish his guidance and leadership”.
CDB president Professor Compton Bourne said he was “greatly saddened” at the death.
“It is a great loss to Barbados and the Caribbean,” he added.
