PM Browne calls for strengthening of relations between CELAC Members

SAN JOSE – Costa Rica – 29th January 2015…..Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda the Hon. Gaston Browne, who is attending the Third Summit of CELAC Heads of State and Government in Costa Rica has commended President Luis Guillermo Solis for his leadership of the organisation and calls for nations to further strengthen relations.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day summit of the community of Latin American and Caribbean states, Prime Minister Browne praised Costa Rica for the relationship developed between the grouping and the People’s Republic of China.

He said that the link created is an important opportunity for the countries of the South to cooperate in trade, finance, and in international relations in ways that can improve the well-being of members of the grouping.

“We must establish that link firmly and strengthen and deepen it.  Importantly, we must also agree to deepen and strengthen relations among all CELAC members in our own interest. For too long, our countries have been manipulated, cajoled and coerced into serving the interests of others – many times at the loss of our autonomy and our rights as sovereign states,” PM Browne stated to the large gathering of leaders.

He noted that CELAC offers a chance for members to defend themselves from the adventures of external economic and political forces and provides the mechanism for them to fashion a different international architecture in which countries are not marginalized and in which they can assert their rights.

“I call on all member states of CELAC to recommit themselves to this organization as an instrument for our joint action in the global community in our mutual interest.  We should work toward working closely with each other in matters of achieving fair and just trade, reform of the international financial architecture, energy security and developing science and technology that gives us less reliance on those who hold us to ransom,” he concluded.

CELAC was established to strengthen Latin American integration and includes all independent countries in the Americas with the exception of the United States and Canada.