I bring you salutations and greetings from the Prime Minister, the Honourable Baldwin Spencer. Prime Minister Spencer returned late yesterday from Kingston, Jamaica where he participated in the official launch of the Caribbean Single Market (CSM), the forerunner to the CSME.

Prime Minister Spencer, along with the heads of delegations of five other OECS countries, affirmed their commitment to the regional integration movement by signing the declaration of intent to be CSM-compliant by June of this year.

While Prime Minister Spencer is this morning chairing this week's Cabinet meeting, he has asked me to say a few words on his behalf. Ladies and gentlemen, while other countries are beginning to adapt to the benefits and disadvantages of the integration movement, it is safe to say that we here in Antigua and Barbuda have not only preached integration but practiced it.

The Sunshine Government, under the capable leadership of the Honourable Baldwin Spencer, while in opposition made it clear that the mosaic society, the Antigua and Barbuda society, has an obligation to ensure that no citizen should be second class. Antigua and Barbuda had long become a plural society with foreign born citizens from Jamaica, Dominica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, China, Syria, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Montserrat, St. Vincent, Grenada, St. Lucia and the United Kingdom to name a few countries.

The United Progressive Party (UPP), while in opposition, recognized that a child is a child, a citizen is a citizen, and that members of our foreign-born community had to endure the worst forms of oppression. The United Progressive Party (UPP) cannot support the treatment of citizens and residents of the Antigua and Barbuda who were born in other countries as though they are all second-class citizens and as though they are all transient, living under the threat of expulsion.

As far as the United Progressive Party Government is concerned, citizens by birth or citizens by choice, we are all Nationals of Antigua and Barbuda.

That is why the Sunshine Government moved swiftly for the immediate introduction of the Millennium Naturalisation Act, which granted full citizenship to all non-native persons of good standing, who were living in Antigua and Barbuda on and since January 1st, 2000, the first day of the new millennium.

This Act releases you, naturalized citizens, from all existing work permit requirements and payments and entitles you to start and operate any legal venture and to practice any legal calling and profession without interference.

The receipt by you today of your Millennium Naturalization Certificate is in fact recognition by the UPP Government of the State's obligation to provide you with the fundamentals of a contemporary society that native-born citizens enjoy.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you will recall that our political detractors recently brought a case in the High Court against the Honourable Prime Minister and the Honourable Attorney General, seeking to invalidate a section of the Millennium Naturalization Act of 2004, which provides for the acquisition of Antigua & Barbuda citizenship by persons who were lawfully resident in Antigua and Barbuda on and since the first day of January, 2000.

You will also recall that in November, 2005 the case was dismissed by Justice Louise Blenman. The learned Justice ruled that the Act is constitutional and that international law leaves it up to the State to determine the conditions under which it will grant citizenship to individuals, but that the rules governing the acquisition and loss of nationality are to be found, as would be expected, in the Constitution.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I say this to signal that the UPP Government is proudly fulfilling our commitment to Antigua and Barbuda citizens by choice, and that commitment is to ensure that no citizen is second-class.

Congratulations to you all. Congratulations on becoming Antigua and Barbuda citizens. I ask you to become GOOD citizens. What is a citizen? I say to you that a citizen is someone who is allowed to participate in decision making. But we should make a distinction between being a citizen and being a good citizen. Being a good citizen means helping other persons, knowing the history of our country, appreciating the contributions and sacrifices of others who have made our beloved country better, understanding how the government works, obeying the laws, and participating in activities that will benefit the community.

I charge you to be GOOD CITIZENS, to be patriotic and to make positive contributions to the nation, to show respect for your friends, to be dependable and to lead responsible and outstanding lives.

Each endeavouring......all achieving
God Bless you and your families.
God Bless Antigua and Barbuda.