8th April 2019

Caribbean officials address security issues at RSS meeting in St Vincent

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By Caribbean News Now

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent – Chairman of the RSS council of ministers and prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsalves, met with other Caribbean leaders on April 5, for high-level talks on issues of regional security at the annual regional security system (RSS) council of ministers meeting in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Gonsalves discussed security matters with leaders from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis.

While addressing the opening ceremony of Friday’s meeting, Gonsalves stated, “The bedrock of our security rests with our cooperation with the United States of America, with Britain, with Canada, with France, Holland and the rest of the European Union.”

“Citizen security and our region’s security is an important cross-cutting developmental issue because in order for us to enjoy life and to enhance production we have to be safe, and we have to be secure, and we have to be uncompromising on this matter,” Gonsalves said.

The opening ceremony also featured remarks by the US ambassador to Barbados and the OECS, Linda S Taglialatela; deputy military commander of the US SOUTHCOM, Lieutenant General Michael T Plehn; Janet Douglas, British high commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and Canadian high commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Marie Legault.

Highlighting Friday’s meeting was the signing of the grant agreement for the development of maritime security strategies and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the RSS and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

The Barbados-based RSS actively helps member governments preserve the peace and stability of the region through cooperative engagement with partner nations and the peoples of the region.

Also present at Friday’s meeting were members of the police and military from across the region.

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