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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 - Heads of Government of the Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will meet in Saint Lucia Thursday, January 22nd
and Friday, 23rd 2004 for the 38th meeting of the OECS Authority. The highest
decision making forum of the nine member grouping was postponed from November
last year because three Heads of Government were ill and Prime Minister of
Grenada Honourable Keith Mitchel, would have been absent due to his country’s
pending November 27th general election.
At the two-day meeting the Heads are expected to discuss measures to advance the
movement towards an OECS economic union, including common OECS citizenship and
the much talked about common OECS passport. The Heads are also due to examine
the level of implementation of the OECS development strategy which will guide
the future economic development of the sub-region.
A highlight of Thursday’s opening ceremony will be the address from Dominica’s
new Prime Minister Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit who will provide an update on
progress made regarding Dominica’s economic recovery programme.
According to Senior Communications Officer attached to the Saint Lucia based
OECS Secretariat Kendal Morgan, “I think that the entire meeting will continue
to feel the grief that Dominicans have been feeling over the past couple of
weeks since the announcement of the sudden death of the former Prime Minister
Honourable Pierre Charles. I am of the view that generally there will be the
hope that Prime Minister Skerrit will continue to pursue the objectives of his
predecessor. This feeling of hope will certainly be seen through the eyes of
this very youthful Prime Minister and for sure there would be quite a bit of
rallying around him by the other Heads.”
Several critical issues involved in the current international trade negotiation,
such as the proposed hemispheric Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) are also
down for discussion. The OECS is a grouping of the nine states of
Antigua/Barbuda, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada,
Montserrat, Saint Kitts/Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
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