OECS Celebrates 25 years of unity

Contact: Claudia Monlouis

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 – Heads of Government of the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean states will this year return to the federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, the home of the Treaty of Basseterre, as part of the 25^th Anniversary celebrations of the formation of the union.

The heads who have commissioned a review of the original Treaty are also expected to approve the implementation of the provisions of the revised treaty.

Senior Communications Officer of the OECS Secretariat Mr. Kendol Morgan says member states will host several important activities to mark the milestone.
 

“At the last meeting of the OECS heads which took place in November in Anguilla, the Acting Chairman Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, who was sitting in for the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves who is the current chairman of the OECS, unveiled a programme of activities which will attributed to observance the 25^th anniversary. It should be a wide ranging programme of activities that should be in the public domain pretty shortly. A lot of the activities will be started towards the end of January”

Mr. Morgan said June will be the highlight month for OECS states. For their part the Heads have scheduled the first of their two annual meetings in Basseterre, the capital of St. Kitts Nevis.

The task force charged with reviewing the Treaty of Basseterre are currently refining the draft copy of the Treaty which had been presented to the Heads when they met in Anguilla in 2005.

According to Morgan: “There is a task force that is currently working on that Treaty. They presented a draft at the last meeting in Anguilla and the Heads asked for some further refinement. They will be meeting within a couple of weeks to look at the refining of the Treaty and then ensure that is is ready for signing as part of the 25^th Anniversary celebrations in June of this year.”

The heads have in the past espoused the view that the existing Treaty signed in 1981 has to now be relevant to current and emerging economic and political developments. These include the fact that the OECS is moving towards an economic union under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy – CSME while making its own peculiar strides towards the closer integration of the sub region.

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