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Contact:
Kendol Morgan - OECS Secretariat
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OECS
Director General Dr. Len Ishmael and Ambassador of Spain His Excellency
Jesus Silva, signing MOU |
Friday, October 10, 2008 – The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was
signed at the OECS Headquarters in Castries, St. Lucia by OECS Director General
Dr. Len Ishmael and Ambassador of Spain His Excellency Jesus Silva.
The Diplomatic School of Spain has long standing experience in professional
training of Foreign Service Officers as well as training in protocol matters. It
also offers a Masters in Diplomacy and International Relations – a one year
academic programme aimed at Spanish and international students and Foreign
Service Officers of other countries.
As part of the agreement, the Diplomatic School of Spain will assist the OECS
Secretariat with its plans to establish a School for Diplomacy and Protocol for
the sub-region.
The Diplomatic School of Spain will also consider offering up to two places
yearly in its International Studies course to Foreign Service Officers of OECS
Member States, students, and staff of the OECS Secretariat.
The OECS is currently working towards an Economic Union by 2009, and the need
for Foreign Service officers to manage the affairs of the OECS in its joint
diplomatic missions has emerged as a top priority for the region. This has
prompted the Secretariat’s move to set up the School of Protocol and Diplomacy.
The OECS Director General, in welcoming the Spanish support, told the signing
ceremony, “it is for us an historic moment in that it speaks to an elaboration
of our own interests in the OECS to seek and develop relationships outside our
region in a way that we have not done before”.
“There is a lot we can do together but only if we are together and certainly in
partnership with countries such as Spain to make the future we strive for more
attainable,” she added.
Ambassador Silva told the ceremony “…I think this is only a first step, and
after this very fruitful exchange of information, I think we would certainly
look at having an even more intensive relationship. Some of the things we have
been speaking about such as the formal accreditation of the representative of
your (OECS) organization and also the possibility of some wider agreement are
certainly things to work on in the coming months.”
Relations between the OECS – through CARICOM of which it [OECS] is a part – and
Spain have intensified in recent years through Spain’s increased presence in the
region by way of several projects at the political and economic levels, as well
as technical, cultural and educational cooperation. The increased cooperation
has also been underlined by the staging of four CARICOM-Spain Summits, the last
of which was held in July this year in Madrid at which the OECS Secretariat was
represented by its Director General.
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