SVG host local government forum

Local government ministers from around the region will meet here in St. Vincent and the Grenadines next week in an effort to find solutions to the challenges facing the full emergence of local government in the Caribbean region.

Ministers, council representatives and heads of local government councils will be part of a three-day Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) from May 16-18 at the Sunset Shores Hotel.{{more}}

With most Commonwealth countries, including St. Vincent and the Grenadines, taking the step of institutionalizing local government, this meeting will allow ministers from throughout the English speaking Caribbean to come together and forge the path for local government in the region.

According to Rosita Snagg, acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Mobilisation, Social Development and Local Government, St. Vincent and the Grenadines hopes to move a step further in democratising local government when this meeting comes to an end next Thursday.

“We have a semblance of local government here, but we really want to get into the democratic part of the local government,” Snagg said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Next week’s meeting follows the CLGF conference in 2005, called the Aberdeen agenda, at which ministers and local government leaders from more than 40 Commonwealth countries agreed on principles that give a framework for local democracy and good governance.

Participants at the symposium will more than likely discuss the support that governments, donor agencies and international organisations can give to local governments to strengthen democracy and boost local services development in their respective countries.