Hanley Meets Diaspora on Sidelines of UN Assembly
BASSETERRE — Acting Prime Minister Dr. Geoffrey Hanley and members of the St. Kitts and Nevis delegation to the United Nations General Assembly met with members of the diaspora during a town hall meeting on Friday, on the margins of the 81st Session of UNGA in New York.
Hanley was joined by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Denzil Douglas and Minister of Sustainable Development Dr. Joyelle Clarke. The meeting was chaired by St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to the United States, Her Excellency Jacinth Henry-Martin.
The town hall gave members of the diaspora an opportunity to engage directly with the ministers and share their views on matters of national importance.
The gathering capped a busy week for the Federation’s delegation at UNGA 81. Earlier Friday, Hanley addressed the General Assembly’s high-level General Debate, calling for developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States, to have a meaningful voice in shaping the global artificial intelligence landscape. “The next great divide between nations must not be digital,” he told world leaders, stressing that St. Kitts and Nevis intends to participate in A.I. development rather than simply consume technology built elsewhere.
Douglas, for his part, used the sidelines of UNGA to press for deeper cooperation between the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and India, identifying agricultural diversification, particularly greenhouse crop farming and poultry production, as a priority area for partnership.
The delegation’s activities in New York also included Prince Minister’s wife Diani Jimesha Prince-Drew’s appearance at the Concordia Annual Summit, where she spoke on a panel about children and technology, and Dr. Mutryce Williams, the Federation’s Permanent Representative to the UN, representing St. Kitts and Nevis at a meeting of OECS Foreign Affairs Ministers.
