Hibury is the place where the first batch of Indian in­dentured servants landed on these shores, 176 years ago. Although, this particu­lar activity commemorates the first 128 indentured servants’ arrival to these shores, Arrival Day is set aside for us to celebrate the arrival of all of our peoples to this land from different continents in the world. I therefore extend greetings to all of our people who came here from different parts of the world and under different circumstances. 
As we commemorate the arrival of the first batch of Indian indentured servants to these shores 176 years ago, the story of their struggles, challenges and triumphs are well recorded and known. It is unnecessary for me to 
 recite them here. However, as we celebrate and salute their legacy today, we must reflect upon where we are and use their adversities and victories to inspire us to overwhelm the difficulties we face. Many of the prob­lems with which they grap­pled, confront us still. They did superlatively and under greater constraints. We live a far better life now. Our circumstances are vastly su­perior. Our victories and ac­complishments must natu­rally be greater. They would have expected no less from us. I believe that expecta­tion to be well founded. They have produced Heads of State, professionals in every conceivable pursuits, academics of world re­nown, business magnates who have built commercial empires worthy of billions of dollars, sports personali­ties whose exploits decorate the record books the world over, farmers whose hands continue to feed millions, culturalists whose works equal any, I can go on but I think the point is made. All of this they achieve, though started only with the clothes on their backs and from lo­gies built from mud. 
Our task is to surpass them, a tall order indeed. We can only achieve that by working tirelessly to cre­ate a world where all of our people are unshackled from the chains of poverty and exploitation of every kind 
 and where hunger is absent. Our task is therefore a per­petual one from which we must never shirk. 
Many of the goals for which they strive continue to be pursued by their descen­dants today. The struggle for better working conditions, for better living conditions, for better wages and salaries and indeed for a better life continues. Like them, their descendants continue to face challenges and difficul­ties. As a Government, it is our responsibility to facili­tate development to ensure that the ideals and aspira­tions of the ancestors of all our people are realised, es­pecially those that are still relevant. As a Government, we are struggling to provide better health care for all of our people, the same objec­tive which our forefathers pursued. However, we are faced with an Opposition 
 that votes down budgetary allocations for a Specialty Hospital. As a Government, as we try to create better liv­ing and working conditions of our people, we are con­fronted by an Opposition in the National Assembly who votes down a Hydro-Power Project that is so important to our development, deny­ing our farmers a Manufac­turing Sector to process that which they produce at Black Bush and elsewhere. 
As a Government, as we try to enact vital legislation to combat Money-Launder­ing and meet our interna­tional obligation, we face an Opposition in the National Assembly who are prepared to cause us to be blacklist­ed, thereby financially and economically estranging us from 190 countries who may sever trade relations with us and affecting our ability to access financing 
 from developmental part­ners for example the inter­national financial institu­tions of the world. The road to this site which we have heard so much about is to be funded by an IDB loan. That loan may never be rea­lised and next year when we assemble here may be worse than it is now. Therefore, the struggles of our ances­tors to achieve a better life for us must continue. The Government remains ready, able and willing to lead that struggle. 
 Happy 
Arrival Day 
to all.