Dominica’s Prime Minister Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit and OECS Director General Dr. Len Ishmael on Thursday staged a joint press conference in Roseau to officially launch OECS 25th Anniversary celebrations.

Before a big gathering of media representatives, Prime Minister Skerrit praised the OECS Secretariat for the tremendous work it continues to do on behalf of the sub-region, and said his country and the rest of the OECS benefit tremendously from the considerable technical assistance in a number of areas provided by the Secretariat.

He singled out the recent Category One upgrade for the OECS civil Aviation sector through the work or the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA) and the savings provided by the joint procurement of medical supplies by the OECS Pharmacautical Procurement Services (PPS).  Prime Minister Skerrit repeated praised the Secretariat for the OECS NewsLink programme which he says he listens to regularly as it keeps him informed of developments across the OECS.

Dr. Ishmael updated the journalists present on plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the OECS and urged that they give strong support in promoting the event in the same way that they provided overwhelming coverage of the last OECS Authority meeting held in Dominica.The journalists heard about plans to launch an OECS Economic Union Treaty to further deepen the integration of the region. They heard of plans for an OECS flag and new logo and the plans for a major development conference. They all left with one of the attractive media kits. The three Television Stations represented received copies of the OECS 25 TV jingle and the radio stations got audio copies.

The Dominica OECS 25 Media Launch follows a similar ceremony last Friday in Antigua and Barbuda hosted by the Director General and Prime Minister Mr. Baldwin Spencer.  Ceremonies were earlier held in St. Kitts/Nevis and the BVI.