The OECS Secretariat’s longest serving employee retired from the Organisation on Friday December 12th. 

Ms. Monica Destang, whose last position with the Secretariat was Travel Officer, completed twenty-seven (27) years with the regional integration movement. 

Ms Destang actually began her journey with the predecessor organization to the OECS –  the West Indies Associated States (WISA) Council of Ministers.  WISA was one of two institutions – the other being the Eastern Caribbean Common Market (ECCM), set up to assist the development of the smaller Eastern Caribbean islands, after the collapse of the West Indies Federation. 

As the Eastern Caribbean Islands moved towards political independence, they recognized the need for a more formal arrangement and so they established the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) which came into being with the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre on June 18th 1981.  The old WISA Secretariat, which was based in St. Lucia, became the OECS Secretariat and Ms Destang and her colleagues at the WISA Secretariat became the first batch of employers of the OECS Secretariat under its first Director General Dr. Vaughn Lewis. 

It was just a handful of staff then, she noted.  Since then the staff complement has grown significantly, and so has the number of areas in which the Secretariat provides service to the nine OECS Member States. 

Ms Destang served in a number of areas during her long tenure, including Confidential Secretary to Dr. Lewis, Admin Officer for OECS Heads of Government meetings and Administrative Assistant at the OECS Solid Waste Project. 

Management and staff paid tribute to Ms Destang for her long service at a ceremony at the Secretariat Headquarters on December 12th.