The Secretariat of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) expresses its condolences to the government and people of Martinique on the loss of 152 nationals in the August 16 th plane crash in the mountains of Western Venezuela.

The Western Caribbean Airways charter flight had been returning the group of Martinique tourists from a week-long excursion to Panama. Official reports in Venezuela indicate that the pilot had sought permission to make an emergency landing there after the first engine failed, but the second

The OECS Secretariat has had a long standing, close working relationship with the authorities in Martinique and the other neighbouring French Overseas Department of Guadeloupe. Areas of cooperation include a health sector reform project, through which French government assistance is used to strengthen OECS Ministries of Health, re-organise health systems, enable quality improvement and facilitate regional sharing of health services. There is also a networking of cultural organizations from the OECS and the French Overseas departments in the fields of living arts, music, painting, patrimony, and environment among others. The OECS and the French Overseas Departments are also collaborating in development of an Eastern Caribbean yachting space which will promote the one-region, multiple destination experience among visiting yachts people.

The OECS comprises the territories of Antigua/Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.