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St. Vincent and the Grenadines assumes the Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC

St. Vincent and the Grenadines assumes the Pro Tempore Presidency of CELAC

Media Release courtesy teleSUR

Wednesday, January 25, 2023 — Argentine President Alberto Fernández handed over the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) on Tuesday to the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who took office for the period 2023-2024.

"First, I would like to thank you for electing me as President pro tempore of Celac for 2023. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the smallest countries in this organization and we have been working over the years with Celac," Gonsalves said at the end of the plenary of the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the organization held in Buenos Aires.

He said he was proud that his country was the first of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to hold this presidency.

"We are going to work very closely with all the states," he said, noting that he would seek to "capitalize on the great work done by Mexico and Argentina," the last two countries to preside over CELAC.

Before his speech, Gonsalves greeted Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva, whom he described as "the great warrior," and thanked him for the Celac initiative.

Fernández, for his part, thanked Lula "for having brought Brazil back to Celac, where it should always have been."  

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OECS Communications Unit Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
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The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is an International Organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance among independent and non-independent countries in the Eastern Caribbean. The OECS came into being on June 18th 1981, when seven Eastern Caribbean countries signed a treaty agreeing to cooperate with each other while promoting unity and solidarity among its Members. The Treaty became known as the Treaty of Basseterre, so named in honour of the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis where it was signed. The OECS today, currently has eleven members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean comprising Antigua and Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

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