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ST. JOHN’S, Antigua,
The first official meeting of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) began in Antigua today with officials discussing challenges to the free movement of their nationals within the sub-region.
Apart from the free movement within the OECS Economic Union that took effect from August 2011, the government and opposition politicians from the nine-member grouping are also discussing the Civil Aviation (Aeronautical Telecommunications) Regulations and Civil Aviation (Amendment) Regulations.
The meeting, the first since the OECS Assembly was inaugurated on August 10, 2012 comes against the background that while all the independent member states have ratified the Revised Treaty of Basseterre, it has not been ratified and according to the host Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer “all our member states must now engage in the process of building out our single space.
“It is important that we have a full understanding of our new regional institutions and to know how they fit together as an organic whole; as well as to fully grasp how the new regional institutions relate to our national organs. It is also important to be briefed on the Rules governing the conduct of the people’s business in this forum", Spencer told the meeting.
Spencer said while the OECS countries Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands have a strong tradition of democracy, debate at the forum must be aimed at improving the socio-economic development of the sub region.
