Heads of government from the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States have been challenged to facilitate more regional coverage of the sub-regional grouping’s meetings.
“I am not talking about controlling the media. But here it is we are having this regional meeting, but it is not covered by the regional media,” OECS Chairman, Prime Minister of Dominica Roosevelt Skerrit told the opening ceremony of the 59th meeting of the OECS Authority on Saturday.
“And I have every confidence in the local media of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but I believe if it is not the CMC (Caribbean Media Corporation), we should seek to have a mechanism to be able to properly communicate to our citizens in the OECS,” Skerrit said.
He said that too often there “appears to be a disconnect in what we discuss and the important decision that we take and the information that our citizens receive.
“And I can say to you, we have men at the helm of our countries who are passionate about the issue confronting the region and who are passionate about regional integration and addressing the issue affecting all our countries, but we need to address the issue of information communication and how we get that information to our citizens,” Skerrit said.
Skerrit said the nine-member grouping must mobilise large sums of money if it is to address the challenges it faces.
He also identified youth unemployment, availability of potable water, and financing tertiary healthcare as important areas for attention during the next year.