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| Ambassador, His Excellency Jesus Silva (left) in discussion with Premier, the Hon Vance Amory during his visit |
Charlestown Nevis (April 5, 2006) Spanish Ambassador to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, His Excellency Mr. Jesus Silva on Tuesday April 4, paid a half-day visit to Nevis where he met and held discussions with Premier, the Hon Mr. Vance Amory during a luncheon meeting at the Mount Nevis Hotel.
The Ambassador, who has been in the Caribbean some eight months before and had presented his credentials to the Governor General, His Excellency Sir Cuthbert Sebastian on Tuesday morning, sought to establish relations with the Nevis Island Administration.
In an interview with the Government Information Service, Premier Amory welcomed Ambassador Silva to the island saying, "I am very pleased to welcome you Ambassador to our small country, a part of St. Kitts and Nevis.
I know we've spoken a little about the peace and tranquillity and the beauty and I really enjoy welcoming you and I hope that you would have a good stay with us as short as it."
The Ambassador, in response, pointed out that he had learnt that the island had have traditional and historical ties with Spain and that the name of the island was from the times when the Spanish were in the area. "I could imagine how impressed they were with the beauty of the island, equally as it happened to me," he said.
"In this current time, we have many other reasons to enjoy closer cooperation between Spain and the Caribbean region," added Ambassador Silva, who expressed that there would be a meeting on May 10 with Heads of Government of the Caribbean Spanish speaking countries in Madrid shortly before the summit meeting of the European Union and Latin America/Caribbean Heads of Government.
This, he observed, would be an opportunity to discuss the possibilities for cooperation in the near future. "We have some projects with St. Kitts and Nevis, like encouraging the teaching of the Spanish language in the island. We are going to send somebody to help with the teaching. We believe that there is a general will of people to have the possibilities of learning Spanish," said Ambassador Silva.
According to the Ambassador, other opportunities which could be derived from the relationship are the dissolution and chlorination of water in the region and tourism related activities where, he noted that the region had seen an increase in Spanish natives especially in Jamaica.
Premier Amory expressed his appreciation to the Ambassador for the relations he sought to be established on the island. "One of the things we have articulated as a government, is the need for our children to become bilingual and I am happy to hear you indicate that you would send someone to work along with our school system, to enhance the teaching of Spanish.
"I think that we are surrounded in a way by Spanish speaking countries and the whole western hemisphere will soon become very strong in the speaking of Spanish and I think we in Nevis and St. Kitts and the English Caribbean, must take the speaking of Spanish seriously because I think that is going to become, I think, informally our second language," said Premier Amory.
Also present was Deputy Governor General His Hon, Mr. Eustace John and the Ambassador's wife, Mrs. Sara Silva.
