Pres­i­dent Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo gives her In­de­pen­dence toast to the na­tion; her first as Pres­i­dent. She said in 61 short years we have built our­selves a na­tion of which we can be jus­ti­fi­ably proud.

Be­low is the full text of her In­de­pen­dence Day toast:

Good morn­ing, every­one. It gives me great plea­sure now to pro­pose a toast to the na­tion on this, the oc­ca­sion of our 61st year of in­de­pen­dence. 61 years ago, the red, white and black of our na­tion­al flag flew proud­ly in the fore­court of the Red House for the very first time.

What an event­ful 61 years they have been. They have brought with them suc­cess­es, which have caused us to smile and chal­lenges which have some­times caused us to cry. But, as that gift­ed son of the soil, Helon Fran­cis re­minds us in his song, Mighty, when we have cried, it has been for a short time. And when we have smiled, it has stretched from mile to mile. To­day, we cel­e­brate the smiles which na­tion­hood has brought us over the last 61 years.

In 61 short years we have built our­selves a na­tion of which we can be jus­ti­fi­ably proud. No oth­er na­tion on Earth has in 61 years of in­de­pen­dence, in­vent­ed a mu­si­cal in­stru­ment, to which the Gen­er­al As­sem­bly of Unit­ed Na­tions has seen it fit to pay homage by de­clar­ing a World Day in its ho­n­our.

No oth­er coun­try in that time span has pro­duced artistes, or au­thors the cal­iber of Denyse Plum­mer or Michael An­tho­ny, both of whom we re­mem­ber with grat­i­tude to­day. They are among the hun­dreds of gift­ed daugh­ters and sons who have by their ef­forts and by their courage, helped to shape and de­fine who and what it means to be a cit­i­zen of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

No oth­er peo­ple on Earth show the spir­it, the vi­tal­i­ty, and the hos­pi­tal­i­ty that we show. And that com­bined to make us the unique and dis­tinc­tive peo­ple that we are. This is the Trinidad and To­ba­go that we cel­e­brate to­day 61 years of.

This is the Trinidad and To­ba­go that I have the sin­gle ho­n­our to serve . A Trinidad and To­ba­go to which I in­vite us all to­day to recom­mit and in which to re­con­firm our undy­ing be­lief. So I ask you now to join with them in toast­ing our beloved coun­try. To Trinidad and To­ba­go. Hap­py in­de­pen­dence.