Welcome to Saint Kitts and Nevis.

It is my great honour to host Fostering the Future Together: The Caribbean Summit, and to welcome leaders, educators, innovators, parents and young people from across our region and beyond to our twin-island Federation.

Every Caribbean child deserves the chance to grow, learn and lead. Today, that chance runs through a digital world. Technology can bring an excellent lesson to a classroom in any community, open the door to careers and businesses our grandparents could not have imagined, and give young voices a platform to be heard. It also exposes children to risks that cross borders in an instant. No single island can meet that challenge alone. That is why we have come together.

This Summit is part of Fostering the Future Together, the global initiative championed by First Lady Melania Trump. I am grateful for her leadership and her partnership in bringing it to the Caribbean.

Over two days we will listen, learn and, above all, commit. We will hear from voices in government, education, technology and civil society. We will make room for students and members of the audience to speak, because our young people are not only the subject of this conversation. They are part of the answer. We will see innovation up close in our Technology & Innovation Showcase. And we will close by hearing from the children themselves, as students present The Basseterre Call to Action, The Voice of Caribbean Children: A Call to Policymakers, Technology Leaders and Global Partners to Build a Safer, More Inclusive and Empowering Digital Future. It is their message to all of us and I hope every one of us will answer it.

My hope is that you leave Saint Kitts and Nevis with more than good ideas. I hope you leave with new partnerships, practical tools and a renewed resolve to turn advocacy into action.

I also hope you will take time to enjoy the warmth, history and natural beauty of our Federation, and carry a little of it home with you.

To our partners and sponsors, whose generosity has helped make this Summit possible, and to every delegate, speaker and young person who has joined us: thank you.

Welcome. Let us foster the future together.

Mrs. Diani Prince-Drew
First Lady of Saint Kitts and Nevis
Host, Fostering the Future Together: The Caribbean Summit