POINTE-À-PITRE, Guadeloupe – The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) formally welcomed Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France, as an associate member of the Organisation at a meeting held in Basse Terre, on Thursday. Newly elected British Virgin Islands premier, Andrew Fahie, was also welcomed at his first OECS engagement, delivering a passionate address to member states.
OECS chairman and prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, noted the accession of the French territory adds tremendously not only to the land and sea space but to the economic potential of the regional grouping, but in furtherance of the deepening and broadening of the regional integration of small Eastern Caribbean islands.
“The enlargement of the OECS, with the accession of Guadeloupe to associate membership, opens up tremendous possibilities not merely to survive but to thrive more markedly across the arenas of economy, society, culture and polity.
