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Contact:
Claudia Monlouis
Monday, July 25, 2005 - When the Association of Caribbean States - the
ACS meets in Panama on July 29, for the Fourth Summit of Heads of States and
Government, OECS representatives at that meeting are expecting the occasion will
mark a reaffirmation of commitment to the objectives of the body.
St. Lucia’s Minister for External Affairs Senator Honourable Petrus Compton said
with stated priorities such as Sustainable Tourism, Natural Disaster, Trade and
Transport benefits for OECS members including Saint Lucia are definitely in the
making.
“The organization will be working on creating facilities for the tourism
products so the islands can benefit from joint marketing and other approaches.
There is a convention on a sustainable tourism zone of the Caribbean and the
protocol to that convention which has been signed but not yet come into effect.
That convention is aimed at developing a sustainable tourism product for the
countries of the OECS.
Mr. Compton said, regional governments will also address issues of Air
Transportation in order to eliminate barriers between CARICOM and the other
members of the ACS.
“There’s also a convention on Air Transportation to facilitate the easier
movement of persons and of goods throughout the ACS countries. Air
Transportation within CARICOM and some of the Latin speaking
countries---countries like Venezuela and Panama where we can have very
interesting trading links, air transportation links do not exist so the
convention is seeking to facilitate that.”
The Association of Caribbean States –ACS- is headquartered in Trinidad and
Tobago. The ACS comprises some 25 territories including its Associate Members of
Aruba, France on behalf of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, and the
Netherlands Antilles.
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