DIPLOMACY AND DIALOGUE WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE HALLMARK FOR PEACEFULLY RESOLVING CONFLICTS IN THE REGION, ASSURES RSS CHAIRMAN DR. DREW

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, March 22, 2024 (SKNIS) – Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, who this week, assumed the chairmanship of the Regional Security System (RSS) Council of Ministers, stated that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will continue to employ diplomacy and dialogue when attempting to resolve regional disputes.

At the opening session of the RSS Council of Ministers Meeting in the Republic of Guyana on March 21, 2024, Prime Minister Drew highlighted the effectiveness of this strategy in recement developments. 

“As we continue to work in the region for security and we work to maintain this region as a zone of peace, I want to say that the CARICOM region has employed diplomacy and dialogue to resolve significant border disputes in its efforts to prevent conflict or war. I want to stress that CARICOM will continue to use this as our most significant strategy and tactic to maintain our region as a zone of peace,” Dr. Drew said, highlighting the significant role the regional body played in bringing the leadership of Venezuela and Guyana together for peaceful dialogue on their border issue.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew addresses the opening ceremony of the RSS Council of Ministers Meeting in Guyana.

The new RSS Chairman further leveraged the opportunity of the Council of Ministers Meeting to also stress the urgent need for the region’s intervention in the ongoing unrest in  Haiti, a fellow CARICOM Member State.

“As we speak about security here, a destabilised Haiti can never result in a stabilised region,” said Prime Minister Drew.

“Haiti is almost twice [the size] in terms of its population compared to the rest of the [CARICOM] Member States, which means that if that country becomes so unstable that it starts to affect in even greater proportion our region, then our region can become unstable. And so I want to impress upon us the importance of a resolution to the matter in Haiti,” Dr. Drew said.

The St. Kitts and Nevis prime minister is supported at the meeting in Guyana by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Cecile Hull; Commissioner of Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, James Sutton; Commander of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, J. Anthony Comrie; National Security Advisor Dr. Lionel Rawlins; and Press Secretary to the Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Adelcia Connor-Ferlance.

The Barbados-based Regional Security System actively helps member Governments preserve the peace and stability of the region through cooperative engagement with partner nations and the peoples of the region.

The Council of Ministers comprises ministers responsible for security and defence from the seven member states: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Dr. Drew (3rd left) and other executive members of RSS Council of Ministers

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