The MOU was signed at the OECS Headquarters in Castries, St. Lucia by OECS Director General Dr. Len Ishmael and Ambassador of Spain His Excellency Jesus Silva.

The Diplomatic School of Spain has long standing experience in professional training of Foreign Service Officers as well as training in protocol matters. It also offers a Masters in Diplomacy and International Relations – a one year academic programme aimed at Spanish and international students and Foreign Service Officers of other countries.

As part of the agreement, the Diplomatic School of Spain will assist the  OECS Secretariat with its plans to establish a School for Diplomacy and Protocol for the sub-region. 

The Diplomatic School of Spain will also consider offering up to two places yearly in its International Studies course to students, Foreign Service Officers of OECS Member States, and  staff of the OECS Secretariat.

The OECS is currently working towards an Economic Union by 2009, and the need for Foreign Service  officers to manage the affairs of the OECS in its joint diplomatic missions has emerged as a top priority for the region. This has prompted the Secretariat’s move to set up the School of Protocol and Diplomacy.

The OECS Director General, in welcoming the Spanish support, told the signing ceremony, “it is for us an historic moment in that it speaks to an elaboration  of our own interests in the OECS to seek and develop relationships outside our region in a way that we have not done before”.  “There is a lot we can do together but only if we are together and certainly in partnership with countries such as Spain to make the future we strive for more attainable,” she added.

Ambassador Silva told the ceremony “…I think this is only a first step, and after this very fruitful exchange of information, I think we would certainly look at having an even more intensive relationship.  Some of the things we have been speaking about such as the formal accreditation of the representative of your (OECS) organization and also the possibility of some wider agreement are certainly things to work on in the coming months.”

Relations between the OECS – through CARICOM of which it is a part – and Spain have intensified in recent years through the country’s increased presence in the region by way of several projects  at the political and economic levels, as well as technical, cultural and educational cooperation.  The increased cooperation has also been underlined by the staging of four CARICOM-Spain Summits, the last of which was held in July this year in Madrid at which the OECS Secretariat was represented by its Director General.