Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

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Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)
Flag
Map of the Eastern Caribbean showing OECS member states (dark green) and associate member states (light green)
Secretariat		Castries, St. Lucia
Membership		7 member states 2 associated states
Leaders
-	Chairman	Roosevelt Skerrit
-	Director General	Len Ishmael
Establishment
-	Treaty of Basseterre	18 June 1981
Website http://www.oecs.org/

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), created in 1981, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and dependencies in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

The main organ of the OECS, the Secretariat, is based in the capital city of Castries, Saint Lucia.

Contents 1 History 2 Membership 3 Organs 3.1 Secretariat 3.2 Director General 3.3 Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court 4 OECS projects 4.1 Proposed OECS Common Passport 4.2 Economic Union 5 Central Bank 6 Foreign missions 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

The OECS was created on 18 June 1981, with the Treaty of Basseterre, which was named after the city of the same name, the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis. The OECS is the successor of the Leewards Islands' political organisation known as the West Indies Associated States (WISA).

One prominent aspect of the modern day OECS economic bloc has been the accelerated pace of trans-national integration among its member states.

All of the members-states of the OECS are either Full or Associate members of the Caribbean Community and were among the second batch of countries that joined the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

[edit] Membership

The OECS currently has nine members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean. Together, they form a near-continuous archipelago across the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.

The two most geographically isolated members, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, have only associate membership of the organisation. As a result, diplomatic missions of the OECS do not represent these two states. For the purposes of further discussing the membership, they are treated as equals of the full members.

Six of the members were formerly colonies of the United Kingdom. The other three, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat remain overseas territories of the UK. Eight of the nine members consider Queen Elizabeth II to be sovereign (Dominica is a republic). There is no requirement for the members to have been British colonies, however the close historical, cultural and economic relationship fostered by them having all been British colonies is as much a factor in the membership of the OECS as their geographical proximity. As well, the Queen's likeness appears on the East Caribbean dollar's coins and banknotes.

All seven full members are also the founding members of the OECS, having been a part of the organisation since its founding on 18 June 1981. The British Virgin Islands was the first associate member, joining on 22 November 1984 and Anguilla is the latest associate member, having joined in 1995.

Listed alphabetically, with associate members shown in italics, the membership is:

Anguilla  Antigua and Barbuda  British Virgin Islands  Dominica  Grenada

Montserrat  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Although all of the current full and associate members are all past or present British dependencies, other islands in the region have expressed interest in becoming associate members of the OECS. The first was the United States Virgin Islands, which applied for associate membership in February 1990^[1] and requested that US Federal Government allow the territory to participate as such.^[2] At that time, it was felt by the US government that it was not an appropriate time to make such a request. However, the US Virgin Islands remained interested in the OECS and, as of 2002, stated that it would revisit the issue with the US government at a later date.^[2] In 2001, Saba, an island of the Netherlands Antilles, decided to seek membership in the OECS. Saba's Island Council had passed a motion on May 30, 2001 calling for Saba's membership in the organisation and subsequently on June 7, 2001, the Executive Council of Saba decided in favour of membership. Saba's senator in the Netherlands Antilles parliament was then asked to present a motion requesting the Antillean parliament to support Saba's quest for membership. In addition to the support from the Antillean parliament, Saba also required a dispensation from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an associate member of the OECS.^[3] Saba's bid for membership was reportedly supported by St. Kitts and Nevis and discussed at the 34th meeting of OECS leaders in Dominica in July.^[4] Also in 2001, Sint Maarten, another part of the Netherlands Antilles, explored the possibility of joining the OECS. After learning of Saba's intentions to join, St. Maarten suggested exploring ways in which Saba and St. Maarten could support each other in their pursuit of membership.^[5]

None of the prospective members have become associate members as yet, but Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten do participate in the meetings of the Council of Tourism Ministers^[6] (as the Forum of Tourism Ministers of the Eastern Caribbean, along with representatives of Saint-Martin, St. Bartholomew, Martinique and Guadeloupe).^[7]

[edit] Organs

[edit] Secretariat

The functions of the Organisation are set out in the Treaty of Basseterre and are coordinated by the Secretariat under the direction and management of the Director General.

The OECS functions in a rapidly changing international economic environment, characterised by globalisation and trade liberalisation which are posing serious challenges to the economic and social stability of their small island members.

It is the purpose of the Organisation to assist its Members to respond to these multi-faceted challenges by identifying scope for joint or coordinated action towards the economic and social advancement of their countries.

The restructuring of the Secretariat was informed by considerations of cost effectiveness in the context of the need to respond to the increasing challenges placed on it, taking into account the limited fiscal capacities of its members. The Secretariat consists of four main Divisions responsible for: External Relations, Functional Cooperation, Corporate Services and Economic Affairs. These four Divisions oversee the work of a number of specialised institutions, work units or projects located in six countries: Antigua/Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, St Lucia, Belgium, Canada, and the United States of America.

In carrying out its mission, the OECS works along with a number of sub-regional and regional agencies and institutions. These include the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB); the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat; the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) [1] and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

[edit] Director General

The authority within the OECS Secretariat is lead by the Director General. The current Director General of the OECS is Dr. Len Ishmael.

[edit] Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court

The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), which was created during the era of WISA, today handles the judicial matters in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. When a trial surpasses the stage of High Court in an OECS member state, it can then be passed on to the ECSC at the level of Supreme court. Cases appealed from the stage of ECSC Supreme Court will then be referred to the jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). Prior to the establishment of the CCJ in 2003, court cases appealed at the level of the ECSC's Supreme court would continue to the Privy Council, in the United Kingdom. [2]

[edit] OECS projects

[edit] Proposed OECS Common Passport

A common OECS Passport was originally planned for January 1, 2003^[8] but its introduction was delayed. At the 38th OECS Authority Meeting in January 2004, the Secretariat was mandated to have the two companies expressing an interest in producing the common passport (De La Rue Identity Systems and the Canadian Banknote Company^[9]) make presentations at the next (39th) Authority Meeting.^[10] At the 39th Meeting the critical issue of the relationship between the OECS passport and the CARICOM passport was discussed^[9] and at the 40th OECS Authority Meeting in November 2004, the OECS Heads of Government agreed to give CARICOM a further 6 months (until May 2005) to introduce a CARICOM Passport. Failure to introduce the CARICOM Passport by that time would have resulted in the OECS moving ahead with its plans to introduce the OECS Passport.^[11] As the CARICOM Passport was first introduced in January 2005 (by Suriname) then the idea of the OECS Passport was abandoned. Had the passport been introduced however it would not have been issued to Economic Citizens within the OECS states.^[12]

[edit] Economic Union

The decision to establish an economic union was taken by OECS Heads of Government at the 34th meeting of the Authority held in Dominica in July 2001. At the 35th meeting of the Authority in Anguilla in January 2002, the main elements of an economic union implementation project were endorsed. The project was expected to be implemented over a two-year period with seven of the nine OECS member states (i.e. Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) participating in the economic union initiative. The remaining two member states, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, would not have participated immediately, but would have requested time to consider the issue further.^[8] In 2003, work had been initiated on the central issue of the creation of new Treaty arrangements to draft OECS Economic Union Treaty holds its first meeting]

The new OECS Economic Union Treaty was finally presented at the 43rd OECS Meeting in St. Kitts on June 21, 2006.^[13] The current draft Treaty was commended at the meeting, but the Authority directed the formulation of some additional provisions to allow a role for national parliamentary representatives (both government and opposition) of the Member States in the form of a regional Assembly of Parliamentarians. This body, it was felt, was necessary to act as a legislative filter to the Authority in its law making capacity. The Heads further directed that the Treaty be reviewed by a meeting of members of the Task Force, Attorneys General, the draftsperson for the Treaty and representatives of the OECS Secretariat. The presentation of the Treaty at the Meeting was followed by the signing of a Declaration of Intent to implement the Treaty by the Heads of Government or their representatives (except that of the British Virgin Islands). It was agreed in the Declaration, that implementation of the Treaty would occur only after a year of public consultation, through a mass national and regional education programme with strong political leadership and direction. According to the Declaration, the Treaty is to be signed, and the Economic Union is to be established by July 1, 2007.^[14]

The provisions of the Economic Union Treaty are expected to include:^[15][16]

• The free circulation of goods and trade in services within the OECS
• Free movement of labour by December 2007
• The free movement of capital (via support of the money and capital market programme of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank)
• A regional Assembly of Parliamentarians
• A common external tariff.

Some of these provisions would already have been covered to some extent by the CSME, but some, such as the Assembly of Parliamentarians, would be unique to the OECS. Although some of the provisions would seem to duplicate efforts by the CSME, the Declaration of Intent^[13] and statements by some OECS leaders,^[17][18] acknowledge the CSME and give assurance that the OECS Economic Union would not run counter to CARICOM integration but that it would become seamlessly integrated into the CSME. To this end, the OECS Heads of Government agreed that steps should be taken to ensure that the OECS Economic Union Treaty would be recognised under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, just as the original Treaty of Chaguaramas had recognised the Treaty of Basseterre.^[14]

[edit] Central Bank

The majority of the OECS members-states are participants of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) monetary authority. The regional central bank oversees financial and banking integrity for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States economic bloc of states. Part of the bank's oversight lends to maintaining the financial integrity of the Eastern Caribbean dollar (XCD). Of all OECS member-states, only the British Virgin Islands do not use the Eastern Caribbean dollar as their de facto native currency.

[edit] Foreign missions

Country	Location	Mission
Belgium	Brussels	George Bullen, Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union
Canada	Ottawa	Lorraine B. Williams, High Commissioner to Canada
Puerto Rico	San Juan	Consular-office at Hato Rey[19]
Switzerland	Geneva	Elliott Paige, Chargé d'affaires to the World Trade Organization (WTO)

[edit] See also

• Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange
• Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
• Caribbean Community
• West Indies Associated States
• List of Indigenous Names of Eastern Caribbean Islands

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
  • Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB)
  • Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC)
  • Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Limited (ECTEL)
  • Education Reform Unit (OERU)
  • OECS Export Development Unit (OECS-EDU)
  • OECS Cultural Network

v • d • e Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Members Antigua and Barbuda · Dominica · Grenada · Montserrat · St. Kitts and Nevis · St. Lucia · St. Vincent and the Grenadines Associate members Anguilla · British Virgin Islands