SVG hands over CELAC Presidency to Honduras

The curtains came down on the eighth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) on Friday March, 1,2024 with the Pro-Tempore Presidency officially being handed over from St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to Honduras.

Representatives from all 33 Member States, as well as extra regional partners from the United Nations, the European Union, India, and China convened at the newly built Sandals Resorts in Buccament for marathon talks which concluded around 8:00 p.m.

The Summit ended with the adoption of the Kingstown Declaration which outlines CELAC’s position on social, political and economic issues affecting the region such as climate change, migration, financial blockades imposed on Cuba, terrorism, as well as disaster risk management.

CELAC also released a statement condemning the genocide being

committed against Palestinians in Gaza and calling for an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid to be supplied to the war-torn territory.

SVG made history as the first CARICOM country to hold the Presidency of CELAC and the outgoing Pro-Tempore President, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves described the 13-month tenure as “active”. He noted that SVG took over the Presidency when global challenges were heightened, in addition to friction in the region between Guyana and Venezuela.

President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, in her address to Summit attendees said the country is committed to keeping the region as a zone of peace and also ensuring the livelihood of the people of the CELAC Member States.

“We must ratify our commitment that a people of Latin America and the Caribbean will never use violence against a brother country. Peace is not only the absence of conflict; peace is also justice, it is memory, it is truth, it is the right of children to go to school, it is fighting poverty, peace is ending hunger.”

Colombia is slated to take up the reins of CELAC in 2025.