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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, April 5, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis and Minister of National Security, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, has joined his regional counterparts from Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for high-level talks on matters of regional security.

This is being done at the annual Regional Security System (RSS) Council of Ministers Meeting being held today, Friday, April 5, 2019, at the Beachcombers Hotel Conference Room in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Prime Minister Harris is accompanied at Friday’s meeting by Acting Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilroy Brandy, and Commander of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, Lieutenant Colonel J. Anthony Comrie.

While addressing the opening ceremony of today’s meeting, Chairman of the RSS Council of Ministers and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. the Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, stated that, “The bedrock of our security rests with our cooperation with the United States of America, with Britain, with Canada, with France, Holland and the rest of the European Union.”

“Citizen security and our region’s security is an important cross cutting developmental issue because in order for us to enjoy life and to enhance production we have to be safe and we have to be secure and we have to be uncompromising on this matter,” Chairman Gonsalves said.

The opening ceremony also featured remarks by the US Ambassador to Barbados and the OECS, Her Excellency Linda S. Taglialatela; Deputy Military Commander of the US SOUTHCOM, Lieutenant General Michael T. Plehn; Mrs. Janet Douglas, British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, and Canadian High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Mrs. Marie Legault.

Highlighting today’s meeting will be the signing of the Grant Agreement for the Development of Maritime Security Strategies and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the RSS and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

The Barbados-based Regional Security System actively helps member Governments preserve the peace and stability of the region through cooperative engagement with partner nations and the peoples of the region.