MIAMI – CARICOM Special Representative on the Reconstruction of Haiti, and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Hon. Percival James Patterson will be the guest lecture at the 12th annual Eric Williams Memorial Collection Lecture Series to be held on Friday (Oct. 15) at the Florida International University, College of Law, South Campus, at 11200 SW Eighth Street in Miami.
The lecture series is titled “The Renaissance of Haiti: A Template for Caribbean Integration”, and Mr. Patterson will aptly speak to issues of the Haitian redevelopment project in his capacity as CARICOM’s representative on the coordinating committee for reconstruction of that Nation, a position he has held since his appointment following the Haitian earthquake devastation, last December (2009). This will be followed by a question and answer session.
Hon. Percival James Patterson
Mr. Patterson will join the distinguished group of international scholars including several other leaders from the Caribbean region who have made presentations at the Lecture Series since its inception in October 1999.
The event is free to the public and provides an intellectual forum for the examination of pertinent issues about the history and politics of the Caribbean and the African Diaspora, simultaneously highlighting world leaders and international scholars.
Mr. Patterson was Jamaica’s sixth Prime Minister from 1992 to 2006, earning the title of the nation’s longest serving Prime Minister. He played a leading role in the process that marked the transition of the Caribbean Free Trade movement (CARIFTA), and its evolution into CARICOM. He steered the regional body toward the development of a Caribbean jurisprudence through the Caribbean Court of Justice, and a regional economy through the CARICOM Single Market, both came to fruition in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
He also served as Chairman of CARICOM, the regional body of Caribbean nations.
Since his retirement, Mr. Patterson has chaired the Committee on Commonwealth Membership (2006-2007). He also is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization comprising formers Statesmen and world leaders working to promote good governance globally. Global Leadership was founded in2004 by former State President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, F.W. de Klerk.
The Eric Williams Foundation Lecture Series is organized by the University of the West Indies, the African New World Studies Department of Florida International University (FIU) and the Eric Williams Foundation, and continues to attract large numbers of students, academia, and corporate citizens across Florida State and the Caribbean region.
The Lecture Series was started by Mrs. Erica Williams Connell, daughter of distinguished Caribbean Statesman, the late Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of Trinidad, a position he held until his death in 1981. He led the country to Independence from Britain in 1962 and onto Republicanism in 1976. He was described as the consummate academic and historian, and was author of several books.
