St. Vincent And India Sign Agreements; Explore Deepening Ties

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, September 20, 2019 (CMC) – The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines has signed three agreements with its Indian counterpart, during Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves’, recent visit to the subcontinent.

Gonsalves travelled to India, earlier this month, for a five-day visit, during which he co-Chaired the high-level, roundtable discussion on “Land, climate change and renewable energy”, during the 14th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

During the trip, Gonsalves also met with India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi,

The Prime Minister told a press conference, here, that during the visit, he also met with the Foreign Minister of India.

Cenio Lewis, St. Vincent’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and non-resident High Commissioner to India, who was part of Gonsalves’ delegation, signed an agreement, addressing the matter of the exemption of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic and official passports, to facilitate the ease of doing business between officials and diplomats.

Minister of Health, senator Luke Browne, also signed a memorandum on cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine.

And Gonsalves signed the framework agreement on the establishment of International Solar Alliance, which has nearly 80 members.

The Prime Minister added that there are three other agreements that Kingstown and New Delhi are working on and will sign shortly, including cooperation in the field of health and medicine, and a memorandum of understanding on the setting up of an information technology centre of excellence at Diamond.

Gonsalves noted that India is well known for its research work in information communication technology.

“India is a phenomenal country, you know. I just want the whole of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to realise this, that it is a growing giant, just as in the Caribbean, Guyana is a growing giant.”

He said that “policies, therefore, have to be attuned, accordingly, and our people must see the importance”.

The prime minister said there is also a draft agreement on a cultural exchange program.

India had contributed a US$1.3 grant for upgrading St. Vincent’s arrowroot industry.

Gonsalves said he and Modi spoke about exchanges in education and training and health, ICT and culture, and enhancing their work in international relations.

On the issue of climate change and land degradation, India will send some experts to help St. Vincent, because they have a strong program, in this regard.

The leaders also discussed the possibility of establishing a mission in New Delhi.

“We are looking at how we can keep it very cheap. Early discussions — because paying the staff, an ambassador and a minister counsellor, is not really the big burden. It’s the cost of office space and housing, those sorts of things. There is a way in which we can address those,” the Prime Minister explained.

Gonsalves also said that during talks with Modi, they discussed assistance to the Bahamas – India has given US$1 million to the hurricane-affected nation.

Modi and Heads of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will meet, next week, in New York, where a range of matters will be discussed, Gonsalves said.

“I made some suggestions to him. I don’t want to speak on those suggestions, because I would wait to see whether he took them on board and had them incorporated into his own approach,” Gonsalves said, adding that he and Modi have a very good relationship.