Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves says St Vincent and the Grenadines is seeking to be the first CARICOM country to hold the Presidency of CELAC.
Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez founded CELAC in 2011 to promote regional unity, political cooperation, and socio-economic development among its member states.
“We have advanced our name to be the first CARICOM country to hold the presidency of CELAC. We want that to be from January 2023. We already have teams and our staff working on this just in case we get the nod from the 34 member countries of CELAC”.
Gonsalves said the immediate past President of CELAC, Mexico, and the current President of CELAC Argentina have agreed to support the candidacy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines has its name forward to be in the Quartet. That is to say, Argentina, Mexico as the past and current CARICOM chairs and one which will come after Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. So between conferences of CELAC, the Heads of government, this Quartet will drive it”.
Gonsalves said there is now being activated a disaster Committee of CELAC, and SVG’s name has been put forward.
“There is a consensus that has grown up for us to Chair, which is now being operationalized. Mexico and Argentina have already pledged 15 million US to put to this. Because disaster preparedness is vital for us. Climate change is so critical”.
Under the leadership of President Alberto Fernández, on January 7, Argentina assumed the pro tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for the year 2022.
During the XXII summit of the CELAC, held in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, ministers and delegates of 32 regional countries voted to transfer the command to Argentina from Mexico, the country that had held the position for the past two years due to the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The member countries of CELAC are Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Granada, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago. Uruguay and Venezuela.
Further Reading
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) is an intergovernmental mechanism for dialogue and political agreement, which includes permanently thirty-three countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is a regional forum that brings together all of Latin America and the Caribbean countries.
CELAC aspires to be a unique voice and structured decision-making policy decisions in the political and cooperation in support of regional integration programs.
It was created with a commitment to advance the gradual process of regional integration, and unity and carefully balancing the political, economic, social and cultural diversity of Latin America and the Caribbean of 650 million people. Since its launch in December 2011, the CELAC has helped to deepen respectful dialogue among all countries in the region in areas such as social development, education, nuclear disarmament, family farming, culture, finance, energy and the environment.
After two years of work, the CELAC has encouraged Latin American and Caribbean vision itself as a community of nations, capable of dialogue and consensus-building on issues of common interest. By mandate of the Heads of State and Government, CELAC is the unified voice of the region on issues of consensus.
CELAC takes its faculties to act as spokesman for the Community with other countries and regional blocs. This includes the CELAC dialogue with the European Union, China, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Turkey and Japan.
CELAC is the successor of the Rio Group and the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development (CALC).
