SVG seeking Secretary General post at ACP
St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) is among six Caribbean Community (Caricom) countries that have nominated candidates for the position of secretary general of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.{{more}}
SEARCHLIGHT understands that SVGâs candidate was interviewed on Monday September 22, 2014 in New York by a sub-committee of the CARIFORUM Council of Foreign Ministers.
Interviews were also to have included candidates from Haiti, Suriname, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trindad and Tobago.
Three candidates are to be selected from the interviews and will be put forward by Caricom, for consideration to the ACP Council of Ministers.
The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) has reported Caricom Secretary General Irwin La Rocque, speaking at the end of the summit of regional leaders in Antigua in July, as saying that a process is being led by the ACP with regard to the selection of a candidate.
“There is a process which is being led by the ACP Secretariat and all members of CARIFORUM (Caribbean Forum, including Caricom and Dominican Republic) would be invited to nominate. So far three countries have indicated a likelihood of a candidate, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago,” La Rocque said then.
CMC also reported that in July, the ACP Council confirmed at its 99th session in Kenya that the next ACP secretary general for 2015-2020 shall be appointed from the Caribbean region.
The secretary general holds executive powers and heads the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat, which is the administrative and technical body of the ACP Group. The secretariat provides policy guidance and technical expertise to the Organs of the Group, and monitors the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement.
Appointment to the top post is for five years, and generally follows a principle of rotation amongst the six ACP regions, including West Africa (currently holding the post), East Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands.
The secretary general shall in turn appoint four assistant secretaries general to head various departments in the secretariat during his term. Nominees for these posts are also proposed by the regions.
The current secretary general is Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni of Ghana, whose tenure ends in February 2015.
The last Caribbean national to hold the post of ACP secretary general was Trinidadian Sir Edwin Carrington, who served from 1985-1990. Sir Edwin, who is now employed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Trinidad and Tobago, also served as ACP deputy secretary general from 1977.
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