KINGSTOWN, ST. Vincent, CMC -St. Vincent and the Grenadines will, on Tuesday, make a bid to become president of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which is holding its seventh summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Prime Minister Dr.Ralph Gonsalves is heading a delegation that includes Minister of Foreign Affairs Keisal Peters, the island’s Ambassador to Venezuela, Gath Bynoe, and former ambassador Andres Wickham.
Kingstown is hoping to lead the 33-member hemispheric organization at a time when its political makeup is evolving, with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heading a delegation to Buenos Aires to rejoin CELAC after a two-year absence.
Brasilia withdrew from the bloc during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, who was recently voted out of office after serving from 2019 to 2022.
CELAC was founded in 2011 to avert the United States’ influence in the hemisphere and excludes Canada and the United States. However, Washington will be represented at this year’s meeting, with US Special Presidential Advisor for the Americas, Chris Dodd, in attendance.
At least one commentator said that Brazil’s return to the group could be Kingstown’s most significant challenge to becoming the second Caribbean nation after Cuba to hold the CELAC presidency.
This month, Kingstown expressed fluctuating levels of confidence about its chances.
Earlier this month, while Gonsalves was overseas visiting Guyana after a trip to Brazil to rally support for the bid, Daniel told radio listeners that St. Vincent and the Grenadines “will be elected to the chair and the presidency of CELAC.”
However, on his return to Kingstown on January 8, Prime Minister Gonsalves said he did not know if Kingstown would succeed but said it would be “imposing” if the island did so.
Daniel likened the CELAC presidency to St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ election, in July 2019, to a two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
“There will be another great moment for St. Vincent and Grenadines,” Daniel said, adding, “the Prime Minister wants to make this country proud again.
“And so, I’m thankful, and the cabinet is thankful. And I’m sure the government and people of St. Vincent and Grenadines are very thankful for the work that the Prime Minister has been doing, not only here in St. Vincent and Grenadines locally, but regionally and internationally.”
Meanwhile, Gonsalves said some people were questioning his travels and ambition for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) island o hold the CELAC presidency.
“You think I could stay home and the world comes to St. Vincent and the Grenadines? I have to go to the world, you know,” the prime minister said.
“The United States of America has the reserve currency, the US dollar, in the world. Even though China is trying to challenge that currency, China has to go to the US still. Fellas are lining up to see Joe Biden. You think they’re lining up to see Kingstown, Roseau in Dominica, Barbados or Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Georgetown, Guyana?”
Gonsalves said the CELAC presidency would put Kingstown “in a critical leadership position to help to define the dialogue which will take place between CELAC, consisting of 600 million people in 33 states, define the relationship between CELAC and the European Union over the next two to three years”.
He said that CELAC would hold summits with the European Union, the African Union, India, and China this year.
Prime Minister Gonsalves said that even though SVG has diplomatic ties with Taiwan and not China, Beijing is a member of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the World Bank, in which Kingstown participates.
“And why don’t people always look at the price of everything and don’t consider the value?” Gonsalves said of his critics.
“I am telling you this, though we didn’t go to the Security Council for … any transactional arrangement to see what St. Vincent will get, the fact of the matter is this, we have benefited significantly from being on the Security Council, and I see investments coming because of the increased profile, and I see also soft loans which have come because of that improved profile.”
Gonsalves said that three CELAC members — Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are in the G20 — which comprises the largest economies in the world.
“Mexico is the number 11 or 12 economies in the world; Brazil is number seven or eight because under Lula first, number five or six,” Gonsalves said.
“I had to go and see Lula when Lula was inaugurated. They say what I went there for,” he said, adding that da Silva greeted him warmly at the inauguration.
“That’s a country with 220 million people — … one of the biggest economies in the world,” Gonsalves said, adding that Brazil, with 220 million people, is the second most populous in the western hemisphere after the United States, which has 330 million.
He noted that no CARICOM country has ever held the presidency of CELAC.
“And Latin America-Caribbean unity is vital. And part of that vitality is to have a country from CARICOM hold the totem pole with the presidency.
“I don’t know whether we will be elected on January 24 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We have a reasonable chance. But if we do it and manage it, it will be an awe-inspiring feat,” Gonsalves added.
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