St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, says the island will benefit from becoming the first Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to hold the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
“And to the extent that those who want to think of these activities as transactional, which they are not, St. Vincent Grenadines will benefit enormously from being the president pro tempore of CELAC,” he added.
Prime Minister Gonsalves is leading a delegation to Venezuela on his first official visit as the CELAC pro tempore president. The delegation includes St. Vincent and the Grenadines coordinator for CELAC Dr. Douglas Slater, and information officer at the state-owned Agency For Public Information, Shevrell “Candy Man” Macmillan.
While in Caracas, Gonsalves is scheduled to meet with President Nicolas Maduro as well as the Venezuelan foreign minister to discuss bi-lateral issues as well as CELAC matters. He said the visit was at Maduro’s instance and discussions will be held to advance a proposal for the development of a Caribbean institute for science, knowledge and technology for CELAC.
“I want to hear his more detailed proposal, at least the framework, a more detailed framework,” Gonsalves said.
“In relation to CELAC, all the administrative arrangements have been put in place, the work plan, within the context of the declaration of Buenos Aires, all those are being elaborated and lots of communication with different countries and areas on matters touching CELAC and those countries.”
St. Vincent the Grenadines was elected at the CELAC seventh summit in Argentina last month and Gonsalves speaking on a radio program, said the island’s Commissioner of Police, Colin John, should be pleased to know that the declaration issued after the summit includes a special resolution on small arms, sponsored by Mexico
“And small arms are not just the short arms, but also assault weapons. The ease with which they get out of the United States and for us to set up the mechanism to help to track them and so on. That’s an important issue for us. Well, for the whole of Latin America,” said Gonsalves, who is also the National Security Minister.
He said the top seven countries in the world in relation to rates of homicide per 100,000 persons are in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Of course, the top seven countries with the lowest rates of suicide, are also in Latin America and the Caribbean, including St. Vincent and Grenadines. So, that’s a very important issue for us — the arms issue for us to be dealing with,” he said.
Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said he wants St. Vincent and the Grenadines to advance the issue of air and sea transportation, “because if we have to link our civilizations, the Latin American and Caribbean civilizations, we have to be able to transport goods, we have to be able to transport people.”
He said CELAC has established a disaster fund and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Mexico and Argentina have already made their contributions
CMC/
