Women play vital role in nation building

Women are a vital part of nation building in St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

La Celia Prince, the Ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United States, expressed this opinion on Saturday, during a town hall meeting at Friends of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York.

While speaking at the meeting, Prince welcomed Ambassador Inga Rhonda King, who recently took up the post as this country’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

“I wish you a very successful tenure and you can rest assured that you will have my support in any way that I can assist you,” Prince said to King.

Prince stated that having two women in important diplomatic positions spoke volumes for St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“I would also like, really on behalf of the women of St Vincent and the Grenadines, to thank you Prime Minister Gonsalves, for making women the core; putting women front and centre, making us a vital part of nation building,” she said.

“It speaks volumes, I think, when a country and a government have as their representative for two very important diplomatic posts that have high visibility and profile, two women”.

The ambassador observed that when Hilary Clinton became Secretary of State in 2009, there was an influx of female envoys to Washington from various countries that initially had no women in such positions.

However, Prince is proud that St Vincent and the Grenadines was already in the practice of having female ambassadors.

“There are many forums, women ambassador forums in which they ask female ambassadors ‘How does it feel to be a female ambassador of your country?’ I’ve always been proud to say that we didn’t have to wait until the ‘Hilary Effect’.

“This is something that we’ve been doing since the first administration in 2001 with Ambassador [Margaret] Ferrari. In fact, I can go further and say that we’ve gone past that first step. We’re on to the second step, which is making young people the centre of nation building,” Prince said.(BK)