Kingstown – Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves yesterday hailed the election of St Vincent and the Grenadines as a non-permanent member of the United Nations security Council for a two-year term.
“It’s a sweet victory; sweet, sweet victory,” he said in a radio interview from New York where he had gone for last-minute campaigning in support of Kingstown’s decade-long campaign.
“I am saying thanks for 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.
St Vincent and the Grenadines’ candidacy for the 2020-2021 term was endorsed by the Group for Latin America and Caribbean. The country secured 185 of the possible 191 votes, while six went to El Salvador, which announced a last-minute bid.
St. Vincent is the smallest country to be elected to the UN Security Council and the third Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to be granted the honour, after Jamaica in 2000-2001. Guyana was first from 1975-1976.
Gonsalves congratulated the island’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, I. Rhonda King and her team, as well as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sir Louis Straker, who was also in New York for the vote.
He also thanked his son and former ambassador to the United Nation, Camillo Gonsalves, who first put forward the island’s nomination at least 11 years ago. (CMC)
