OECS Heads of Government travel to Puerto Rico this Friday, January 30 th , to formally sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Puerto Rican government.

The MOU will lay the ground work for closer collaboration between the two sides in a number of areas, including trade and investment promotion, agriculture, tourism, health, education, the environment, justice and security. The OECS is expected to receive, among other things, up to 20 scholarships for short term language emersion, and office space in Puerto Rico to promote OECS trade, investment and tourism initiatives.

OECS Heads agreed to the date for the signing ceremony at the just ended 38 th Meeting of the OECS Authority in St. Lucia. That Meeting also supported current initiatives by the OECS Secretariat to strengthen cooperation between the sub-region and Guadeloupe .

The two sides are already seeking to develop an Eastern Caribbean label for the yachting sector, based on the principle of “shared space”. The Guadeloupe authorities are expected to assist the OECS take up an offer from Europe 's biggest boat show, the Grand Pavoire, to showcase the sub-region's yachting potential at its 2005 event. The OECS Authority Meeting also agreed to create a new Treaty for the OECS which will be more relevant to the ongoing moves towards an economic union of the sub-region. They chose this option instead of amending the current Treaty of Basseterre.

The Meeting also reactivated a special Technical Committee on Economic Union to examine among other things; the broad political structure of the Economic Union, institutional structures and arrangements, the role of the OECS Secretariat, the status of non-independent Members like Montserrat, and the relationship with two OECS Associate Members, Anguilla and the BVI.

The Economic Union process will continue to be driven by a Prime Ministerial sub-committee under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves. The Prime Minister of St. Lucia Dr. Kenny Anthony will remain a member of that sub-committee, while the Chief Minister of Montserrat Mr. John Osborne was nominated to fill the position left vacant by the death of Prime Minister Charles of Dominica.

CONTACTS:
Kendol Morgan Senior Communications Officer OECS Secretariat This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Raymond O'Keiffe Comm. Officer email : This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it