The Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit, in the Office of the Prime Minister, will be hosting a series of Public Education Programmes, with the first being a Public Forum on the OECS-EU under the theme OESC Economic Union – integrate for a brighter future.{{more}}

This forum will be held at the Methodist Church Hall on February 15, 2011, from 7pm.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines ratified the Revised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union (OECS-EU) on January 12, 2011. Since then, the Treaty entered into force on January 21, 2011. The next stage of the process is for the Treaty to be given the force of law in the various parliaments.

The Treaty provides for the free movement of OECS citizens and free circulation of goods and services within a single economic space. At the recently concluded Meeting of the OECS Authority, the heads agreed that for the next three months, member states will be engaged in ensuring that all the legal arrangements are in place. They also committed to finalising arrangements for free movement of persons to take full effect by August 1, 2011.

The panellists include: Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, who will speak on Opportunities for St. Vincent and the Grenadines with an OECS Economic Union; the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner, who will speak on Opportunities for Economic Development within an OECS Economic Union, and Director General OECS Secretariat Dr. Len Ishmael, who will speak on opportunities for private Sector Development within an OECS Economic Union.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the OECS, Ellsworth I. A. John, will chair the proceedings. There will be an open forum during which the public can ask questions and seek clarifications.