Role of institutions highlighted in the success of integration movement

ST. KITTS, JANUARY 23RD 2011 (CUOPM) – Current Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas is crediting several institutions with the successes of the regional integration movement and keeping it alive.

In a statement to mark the coming into force of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the OECS Economic Union, Prime Minister Douglas singled out the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority and the OECS Secretariat.

He noted that for the last forty years, long before the formal establishment of the Organisation, the people of the OECS have benefitted from the operation of a single, fully functional regional judiciary, the OECS Supreme Court.

“This institution finds no parallel in the world, except perhaps with the European Court of Justice. Quite apart from its excellent record within the region, it has had a long and proud record of contributing to the development of international jurisprudence, with some of its best legal minds being pressed into service toward the resolution of problems in various parts of the world,” said Dr. Douglas.

He boasted that since 1965, long before it was ever contemplated by the region’s friends in Europe, OECS Member States have enjoyed a single currency, the Eastern Caribbean Dollar, which stands today as one of the most stable currencies in the world, having maintained a fixed rate of exchange to the US Dollar since 1976, thirty-five years ago!

This currency, the associated institutional arrangements, and the entire banking system within the OECS is managed and regulated by a single authority, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

This institution which had its origins in the 1965 establishment of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Authority is today a Central Bank of the highest international repute!

Another institution of long standing is the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority, which boasts a successful record in the management and regulation of the airspace and civil aviation within the OECS.

ECCB

The region’s success at integration is also evident in the establishment and successful operation of other institutions of more recent vintage but of equally high international standing, such as Eastern Caribbean Stock Exchange, established upon a platform that is one of the most technologically advanced; or the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority, the single Authority for oversight of a fully liberalized Telecommunications Sector; or the OECS Pharmaceutical Procurement Service which has realized tremendous benefits for the regional Health Sector through the joint procurement of pharmaceuticals. Indeed, the OECS approach to the procurement of pharmaceuticals has attracted much interest in various parts of the developing world.

“At the centre of it all is the OECS Secretariat, the principal Organ responsible for the general administration of our Organisation, and in particular, implementation of activities leading to the formation of and now the operationalisation of the OECS Economic Union. The Secretariat is responsible for promoting such pursuits as joint diplomatic representation in major international capitals and institutions; policy harmonization and coordination in various spheres of human endeavour including critical areas such as energy, tourism, air transportation, health, education and judicial reform, as well as trade negotiations,” said Prime Minister Douglas in a radio and television statement to the peoples of the independent OECS states of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

He pointed out that in recent times, and at the behest of the Authority, the Secretariat has been engaged in a process of representing the region’s strategic interests through the development of relationships internationally, with non-traditional partners in different parts of the world – a move which has brought major dividends by way of the mobilization of unprecedented levels of developmental resources.