A release from the Government Information Unit (GIU) on Thursday advises that the Government of Montserrat is preparing to welcome leaders of government from all of the members of the Organisation for Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) for the 58th Meeting of the Authority scheduled to begin here next Thursday, November 21, 2013.
According to the release, the leaders are set to discuss the OECS Growth and Development Strategy Action Plan, which outlines short and medium-term as well as long-term activities in the areas of tourism, agriculture and the creative industries among others. OECS Funding under the 11th EDF is also on the agenda along with a review of a Japanese proposal to fund a Fisheries project in the OECS.
The Ministers will also receive an update on the free movement of OECS Citizens as well as the status of efforts by each Member State to put into effect legislation and necessary processes implement the Economic Union Treaty. The implementation of the Roadmap for the Regime for the free circulation of goods, will also be tabled.
On Thursday, Nov 14, a report by Adre Huie writing for the St. Kitts and Nevis WINN quotes Ms. Elma Gene Isaac, coordinator of the regional integration movement of the OECS earlier this week as saying that, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Grenada and Montserrat. She said that St. Lucia and Antigua and Barbuda are not yet ready for implementation.
(See the WINN story at: http://www.winnfm.com/news/local/6254-oecs-integration-progressing-says-coordinator or www.themontserratreporter.com)