SVG hosts OECS Authority at Buccament Bay Resort

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has called on his colleague heads in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to focus on the people of the member states, during discussions of the 55th meeting of the OECS Authority.{{more}}

As incoming chairman of the Authority, Gonsalves, speaking at the opening ceremony of the meeting on Sunday, June 10 at the Buccament Bay Resort, outlined a five-point list of issues that he considered should be the focus of the sub-regional leaders over the next year.

“First, we all must love and care for the OECS.

“This sounds simple; the cynical may consider it trite or wooly. Far from it; it is the most important consideration or goal. Each of us has an obligation to love and care for his or her family and to be solicitous to those who depend on us. The OECS is part of our extended family; indeed, politically, it is our family. If we speak in all the highfalutin tongues of men and women, or even of angels, but we have not love or caring, we are merely sounding brass and clanging cymbals. Our love and caring for the OECS must protect and preserve it, and contain our hopes and faith for the future. In everything we do or say politically, we must have the OECS at its centre. We must approach its work with steadfastness and creativity; it must bind us ever more together. And our governments must make every effort to pay the dues required for the OECS and its organs to survive and thrive.”

The Prime Minister also called for the process of consolidating and extending the gains from the OECS and its institutions and mechanisms to continue, which he say flow from the coordinated and integrated work in the free movement of the people, money and banking, civil aviation, education and health and telecommunications, among others.

“Thirdly, we must make the Revised Treaty of Basseterre establishing the Economic Union take root. This recent advance in our sub-regional governance deepens and improves the integration mechanisms. Additionally, powers have been accorded the OECS Authority on a wider range of subjects. The new institutions such as the consultative OECS Assembly, the Economic Affairs Council, and the OECS Commission must be placed on a solid footing. Vitally, all matters resident in the Annex and Economic Union Protocol are to be fully elaborated, and put within appropriate juridical frameworks over the next year. This Protocol is of great importance, for example, to the freedom of movement of persons and goods. A host of trade issues are to be fine-tuned. The work ahead is hefty. The agenda is heavy-laden and the hands are few.

“Fourthly, we must finalize all the necessary arrangements for the Revised Treaty of Basseterre to be accorded a special and different place in the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which establishes CARICOM.”

According to Gonsalves, the OECS, in its own interest, has to navigate itself properly through and within a series of other cross-cutting regional mechanisms, including CARICOM, the Economic Partnership Agreement between CARIFORUM and the European Union, ALBA, CELAC and others.

“In our work this week, our over-riding focus must always be the people of the member-states of the OECS, especially the poor, the marginalized, and the sick. Our endeavours must advance economic growth, job and wealth creation, poverty reduction, citizen security, and the strengthening of good governance and democracy, including the preservation of an independent judiciary. Our people judge its leaders on these matters,” Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves takes over the chairmanship of the Authority from St Lucian Prime Minister Dr Kenny Anthony, who indicated that it had been an honour and privilege to serve as chairman over the past year, and that he remains confident in the future of the Organization with Dr Gonsalves at the helm.

“I wish to assure Prime Minister Gonsalves of my full support as he assumes the Chair, and to thank most sincerely my colleague Heads of Government, the OECS Commissioner, the Director General and the Staff of the OECS, for the support extended to St Lucia and to me personally over the period of our stewardship.”

The meeting of the Authority is scheduled to come to a close today.