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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, October 07, 2019 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, met with the Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, His Excellency Nestor Mendez at his Government Headquarters office earlier today (Monday, October 07) where matters pertaining to the functioning of the OAS were discussed.

H.E. Mendez used the occasion to apprise Prime Minister Harris of several programmes and projects being offered by the organization, which are expected to redound to the benefit of St. Kitts and Nevis and the broader OAS membership.

These include drug prevention programmes, cyber security initiatives, as well as training for immigration and other border protection agencies across the region.

Ambassador Mendez also spoke of a pilot programme that is currently under consideration by the OAS, which will promote bilingualism in the Caribbean.

“I think that as a region we can no longer afford to think that…our young professionals have the option or the luxury of only being able to operate in one language. For our region to become more competitive and to remain competitive, they must at least be bilingual, and I’ve heard many of our Caribbean leaders call for greater engagement and greater effort in this direction,” H.E. Mendez stated. 

Prime Minister Harris was supported at this morning’s meeting by Cabinet Secretary, Mrs. Josephine Huggins and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Kaye Bass. Ambassador Mendez was accompanied by his Advisor, Ambassador Jacinth Henry-Martin.

His Excellency Mendez is on an official three-day visit to the twin island Federation. This morning, he held discussions with the Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Shawn Richards. He is expected to also meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Mark Brantley and Minister responsible for Agriculture, the Honourable Eugene Hamilton.