AIR TRANSPORTATION must be supported to ensure its sustainability, said Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Edwin Carrington yesterday.

He said while addressing the opening ceremony of the 28th Meeting of the CARICOM Conference of the Heads of Government that intra-regional transportation had to be supported.

"Unless there is sustainable support for this process, the dream of an integrated Caribbean region risks remaining just that – a dream," he told the audience.

He also spoke of the four grand pillars on which the Community stood – economic integration, foreign policy co-ordination, functional co-operation and security co-operation.

"Some of the Community's greatest successes have been in the area of functional co-operation in the areas of health, education and disaster management, for example, and they serve as a constant reminder to us of what can be achieved in other things such as regional transportation and climate change.

"These are issues which touch on the everyday lives of our people and therefore areas in which our Community must demonstrate that integration has meaning and relevance for every man, woman and child within its member states and associated members.

Over the next three days he said the leaders would discuss issues ranging from functional co-operation through the Single Market and the Economy to security.