PM Douglas leads delegation in talks with Trinidad and Tobago on closer political union

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, AUGUST 20TH 2008 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas will lead the Federal delegation in talks Wednesday afternoon on closer political union with Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Hon. Patrick Manning.

Prime Minister Manning, accompanied by Grenada’s Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas, will arrive by private aircraft at the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport at 2:20 Wednesday afternoon and will be met on arrival by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Astona Browne.

Prime Minister Douglas will hold discussions with Prime Minister Manning and Prime Minister Thomas in the Montserrat Room at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino. The visiting delegation is scheduled to leave at 4:30 P.M.

Other members of Prime Minister Douglas’ delegation are St. Kitts and Nevis’ Attorney General, Hon. Dennis Merchant; Deputy Premier of Nevis, Hon. Hensley Daniel; Chief Secretary, Mr. Joseph Edmeade; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Astona Browne; St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ambassador to CARICOM, the OECS and the ACS, His Excellency Mr. Wendell Lawrence and the Cabinet Secretary in the Nevis Island Administration, Mr. Ashley Farrell.

The visit by the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister follows a meeting in Port of Spain, at which the leaders of four CARICOM countries declared their intent to establish a political union by 2013, insisting that their move would not be detrimental to the wider regional integration movement.

Prime Minister Hon. Patrick Manning of Trinidad and Tobago, his St. Vincent and the Grenadines counterpart, Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Hon. Stephenson King and the Grenada Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas last Thursday night affixed their signatures to a joint declaration.

This declaration also outlined their commitment to accelerating the establishment of a CARICOM Single Economy by 2011.