HAVE you ever wondered how the East Caribbean (EC) dollar came to be pegged at $2.71 to the US dollar?
The answer can be learnt from the sixth part of the television documentary series, The OECS: The Founders which is to be broadcast on the National Television Network, NTN, tomorrow evening at 8:00 p.m.
The series was commissioned in observance of the 25th anniversary of the OECS on 18th June this year. It features interviews with five of the Prime Ministers and Secretariat Officials who were either on the Authority of OECS or at the helm of its Secretariat during the founding years. They are, former Prime Ministers Sir Lester Bird of Antigua and Barbuda, Sir Kennedy Simmonds of St Kitts and Nevis, Sir James Mitchell of St Vincent and the Grenadines; Sir Vaughan Lewis, the first Director General and Swinburne Lestrade ,the first Director of Economic Affairs of the Secretariat. Sir Lester and Sir Kennedy were signatories to the Treaty of Basseterre in 1981.
In the sixth and final programme, the establishment of the Eastern Carribbean Central Bank (ECCB) and its role in the consolidation of the Eastern Caribbean regional integration movement and the development of the economies of the member states is one of the featured topics.
While the first five programmes of the series, featured interviews with each of the five founders, the sixth programme brings them all together, presenting their views on the issues that dominated the early years of the OECS.
In addition to the ECCB and the role of its long serving former Governor, Sir Dwight Venner, the sixth programme examines other subjects like the dissolution of the East Caribbean Tourism Association (ECTA), the financial difficulties of the organization, and the relationship between the Prime Ministers of the countries at that time and their objectives for the OECS. The programme is produced and presented by Earl Stephen Huntley of the West Indies Media Corporation (WIMEDIA).