Chair of OAS development council calls for development to be placed at the centre of hemispheric stability

(Kaieteur News) – Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS), Sir Ronald Sanders, as Chair of the Inter American Council for Integral Development (CIDI, has called for stronger development cooperation between OAS member states and the Organization’s Permanent Observers.

Sir Ronald made the call at a special meeting that he convened on 9 September as Chair of the Council. The meeting, attended by OAS Secretary General Albert Ramdin, brought together the 32 active OAS member states and Permanent Observers, including the European Union, China, Spain, Italy, France, Morocco and Japan.

According to a press release, Saunders’ central message was that development should not be treated as secondary to the other principal concerns of the inter-American system. “Development is not the fourth pillar of the inter-American system. It is the foundation of the other three,” he declared.