OECS Director General Dr Len Ishmael

The conference will be held under the theme “Vision 2015: Shaping the Future of the OECS – New Development Paradigm in the Context of Small Island Developing States.”  Presenters, including many high profile intellectuals,  will be drawn from the World Bank, IMF, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the European Union (EU), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Governments of Puerto Rico, Ireland and Iceland, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), University of the West Indies (UWI), OECS Member States and the OECS Secretariat.

The Conference will seek to get to the root of the various forces which shape the prospects for development of the OECS, including those related to small size and vulnerability, and examine how these can be transformed to resilience.  Participants will analyse the experience of other small states such as Malta, Iceland, Ireland and Singapore to identify ways in which they overcame constraints related to “islandness” and size, and what lessons can be applied to the OECS as a group.

The Multilateral Financial Organizations will also reflect on the challenges, strengths and prospects for growth and development of small island developing states, given constraints of size and other vulnerabilities.

Conference participants will use the second day to pull the analysis together with a view to articulating elements of a new development paradigm for the OECS.  They will seek to determine the long term vision for the OECS, and identify the resource and investment needs that must be put in place.  The conference will also search for the OECS competitive edge, identify the type of activities which must take place and be coordinated at the regional level, and examine the implications for the proposed OECS Economic Union.

The International Development Conference is part of a year-long calendar of events, starting June 2006, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Basseterre which established the OECS.  Other major events included the unfurling of the first OECS Flag, the unveiling of a draft OECS Economic Union Treaty and an OECS Trade Exposition.

The OECS is made up of nine Member States;   Antigua/Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands.