Five New Diplomats Accredited to Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia welcomed five new diplomats accredited to the island last week, when Acting Governor General Errol Charles accepted the credentials of new envoys from Argentina, Barbados, the Holy See, Switzerland and Turkey.

The accreditation ceremony at Government House, on May 30, was attended by officials of the Ministry of Foreign affairs, as well as Saint Lucia’s Roman Catholic Archbishop Gabriel Malzaire.

With greetings from President Sandra Mason and Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, Barbados’ first High Commissioner to Saint Lucia, H.E. David Commissiong, said “it’s a great honour” to be the first to hold the post.

He also said he was “extremely cognisant of the deep and long friendship that has existed between the people of Saint Lucia and Barbados – not merely from the date of our establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979, but for many decades before that, when our people and leaders struggled together against the evils of colonialism, worked together to establish a Caribbean Labour Movement and collaborated in both the establishment of the West Indies Federal Labour Party and the actual leadership of the West Indies Federation, with Barbados’ Grantley Adams and Saint Lucia’s Carl La Corbiniere serving as Premier and Deputy Premier of the Federation, respectively.

High Commissioner Commissiong also noted “the substantial migration of people that took place between Barbados and St. Lucia in the Post World War II era.”

The Barbados envoy said the two countries “have certainly had a long and fruitful association and Barbados deeply values St. Lucia as a trusted ally and a critical partner in our mission to advance the Caribbean Community and develop our Caribbean Civilization.”

High Commissioner Commissiong also assured that “St. Lucia will always be able to count on Barbados,” adding that “Barbados is keen to intensify its partnership with St. Lucia in such critical Caribbean Community matters as the construction of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, pursuit of our regional Climate Justice and Sustainable Development agenda, fostering a stronger, more ambitious and more unified CARICOM foreign policy, advancing the CARICOM Reparatory Justice Initiative and enhancement of the food and nutrition security of our region.”

“In addition to our multilateral Caribbean Community agenda,” he said, “Barbados wishes to pursue a comprehensive bilateral development agenda with St. Lucia.”

Commissiong, who is also Barbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM, said Barbados is “deeply interested in establishing a bilateral cooperation programme with St. Lucia,” as Bridgetown “believes there will be much to be gained if our nations collaborate and partner with each other on such issues as education, health care, sports, fisheries, sustainable tourism, youth development, crime reduction, beach preservation, collaboration in the arts, and the encouragement of investment by our private sectors in each other’s country.”