The OECS Secretariat has extended condolences to the family of the late former Prime Minister of St. Lucia Winston Cenac Q.C. and the people of St. Lucia, following his passing on Wednesday, 22nd September.

Cenac was St. Lucia’s signatory to the Treaty of Basseterre, which established the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in June 1981. {{more}}

He was attorney general and minister of legal affairs in the St. Lucia Labour Party administration, which came to office in 1979, and became prime minister in 1981 after the resignation of Prime Minister Allan Louisy. His stint as St. Lucia’s third prime minister lasted less than a year and he opted to stay out of the next general elections, which were called soon after.

The other signatories to the Treaty were the then Deputy Prime Minister of Antigua/ Barbuda Lester Bird; Prime Ministers Mary Eugenia Charles of Dominica and Maurice Bishop of Grenada; Government Minister Franklyn Margetson of Montserrat; Premier Dr. Kennedy Simmonds of St. Kitts/Nevis; and Deputy Prime Minister Hudson Tannis of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands joined later as associate members to bring the sub-regional grouping to nine.

The OECS was established to promote co-operation among the Member States; to assist the Member States in the realisation of their obligations and responsibilities to the international community; to establish and maintain, wherever possible, arrangements for joint overseas representation and common services; and to promote economic integration among the Member States.

OECS governments have decided to further advance the gains achieved since the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre by moving towards an economic union of the sub-region.