House of Assembly, Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 14th October 2019
PGA organized a One-Day Regional Caribbean Workshop on Biological Security Frameworks in the House of Assembly of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Kingstown on October 14th, 2019, funded by Global Affairs Canada.
Participants included the Hon. Speakers of Parliament from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Grenada and St. Lucia, MPs from both governing and opposition and both Houses of Parliament of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Delegations of Representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Security, Agriculture, Health and National Mobilization, respectively, of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as Representatives from CARICOM, CARPHA and the Ministry of Health of Trinidad and Tobago (National Contact Point for Biological Weapons Convention).
The purpose of this Regional Workshop was to familiarize Executive and Legislative branch of Government decision-makers from 4 countries in the region with the main aspects and facets of regional and international biosecurity frameworks, in particular from, but not confined to, regional and national public health perspectives. St. Vincent and the Grenadines is joining the UN Security Council as a Non-Permanent 2 Year Member in January 2020 and much of the subject matter of this One Day Workshop is of relevance also in this context. The several Interactive Dialogue segments of the Workshop saw significant participation, commentary, observations and questions from many in attendance.
Several undertakings were given with respect to follow-up, including by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in connection with the nomination of a National Point of Contact by St. Vincent and the Grenadines for the UN Security Council 1540 Committee. The importance of nomination/appointment of National Points of Contact for both the Biological Weapons Convention and UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004) by all UN Member States in the region was a recurring theme of the event. The meeting concluded with a brief overview given by the Senior Director of the PGA International Peace and Security Program of 8 fundamental ways in which Parliamentarians can contribute to promoting universality and implementation of the BWC and implementation of UNSCR 1540 in the region, the latter also mandated formally in UN Security Council Resolution 2325 (2016). It was noted that the Comprehensive Review process for UNSCR 1540 in 2020/2021 was now preliminarily underway and the importance of acknowledging the central role of Parliamentarians in implementation of UNSCR 1540 (2004) was also noted, as was the case in the prior Comprehensive Review Process in 2016 leading up to the adoption of UNSCR 2325 in December 2016.
PGA is very grateful indeed to Hon. Speaker Jomo Sanga Thomas and the House of Assembly of St. Vincent and the Grenadines for hosting this event and to Global Affairs Canada also for their kind support.
