The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda yesterday sent a congratulatory letter to his Vincentian counterpart, Dr Ralph Gonsalves on the occasion of St Vincent and the Grenadines being elected to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Friday.
“On behalf of the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda and on my own behalf, I congratulate you, and the Government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines on your convincing election today as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC),” Browne said in his letter the Vincentian leader.
“St Vincent and the Grenadines’ election is a result of hard work and earned respect for your government under your leadership. You have demonstrated that smallness is not an obstacle to meaningful participation in global decision making.
“I have every confidence that St Vincent and the Grenadines will give a strong voice to the causes of small states in the Security Council and that it will continue to uphold principled and objective positions on issues with which the Council will grapple.
“Antigua and Barbuda is proud of St Vincent and the Grenadines and we send our best wishes for a successful tenure on the Security Council and assure you of our unstinting support,” he said.
PM Browne, days ago, openly endorsed the nomination of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nation to the august body.
Meantime, Dr Gonsalves described the Security Council vote as “sweet victory”.
“It’s a sweet victory; sweet, sweet victory,” Gonsalves said in a radio interview from New York, where he had gone for last minute campaigning in support of Kingstown’s bid.
“I am saying thanks first of all to Almighty God, we thank the members of the United Nations, we thank the members of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean, those from the Africa group, Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and others and Eastern Europe; all of the countries of the world,” Gonsalves told radio listeners.
After a decade-long campaign, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Group for Latin America and Caribbean (GRULAC)-endorsed candidate for the term 2020-2021, secured 185 of the possible 191 votes, while six went to El Salvador, which announced a last-minute bid. St. Vincent and the Grenadines becomes the second CARICOM country to serve on the Security Council since Jamaica’s 2000-2001 term.