By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) will hold a protocolary meeting on Wednesday, January 18, 2023, beginning at 11:30 EST in the Hall of the Americas at OAS headquarters in Washington, D.C., 17th Street & Constitution Avenue, N.W., “to receive the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Philip Davis.”
Announcing this on its website, the OAS said the meeting “will be broadcast live — with interpretation in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese — on the OAS Website and the OAS Facebook page.”
“Representatives of the media interested in attending the meeting in person must wear a face mask, keep safe distance whenever possible, and present an identity document and COVID-19 vaccination card,” the OAS advised, adding: “Due to restrictions due to the pandemic, access to the press will be limited and spaces will be occupied strictly by order of arrival.”
Prime Minister Davis assumed the chairmanship of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for the next six months on Sunday, January 1, 2023.
He replaces Suriname’s President Chandrika Persad Santokhi as chairman of the intergovernmental organization that is a political and economic union of 15-member states — 14 nation-states and one dependency — throughout the Caribbean with primary objectives “to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and coordinate foreign policy.”
Established in 1973 with the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramas in Trinidad and Tobago, CARICOM’S four founding members were Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Currently, there are 15-member nations and dependencies. CARICOM-member countries include Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, The Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Haiti, and Suriname.
Associate members are Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos. In addition, there are eight observer nations: Aruba, Colombia, Curaco, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Sint Maarten, and Venezuela.
Prime Minister Davis, KC, who is a renowned Bahamian attorney, led his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) to a landslide victory in general elections held in The Bahamas on September 16, 2021, securing 32 out of the 39 seats and unseating former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis.
