Press Release Foreign Minister Douglas leads SKN Delegation to 53rd OAS General Assembly

Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 21, 2022- The Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, Minister of Foreign Affairs; International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs; Economic Development and Investment, is currently in the US Capital, Washington, D.C. attending the 53^rd Regular Session of the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). He is accompanied by H.E. V.Sherry Tross, High Commissioner of Canada and Ambasador to Mexico and Panama, Mrs. Sonia Boddie-Thompson, Interim Representative to the OAS, Ms. Shanelle Simmonds, Alternate Representative to the OAS and Ms. Jamela Davis, Foreign Service Officer.

The 53rd OAS General Assembly is being held from June 21-23, 2023, at the OAS Headquarters, under the theme, ‘Strengthening a Culture of Democratic Accountability with Human Rights Promotion, Protection and Equality in the Americas’. Foreign Minister Douglas will engage with colleagues from across the Americas, as well as key hemispheric partners to address pertinent issues in view of supporting and strengthening the four pillars of the OAS which are democracy, human rights, security, and development.

The convocation of the 53^rd OAS Assembly eight months after the 52^nd edition which was held in Lima, Peru in October 2022, is being done to reprogram the OAS Assembly to its previous schedule, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OAS General Assembly is a foreign minister-level meeting and is the supreme organ of the 35-member states organization.  The General Assembly approves the program budget of the organization and the annual program of work for the organization.

The OAS was founded in 1948 and it is the world’s oldest regional organization and the main forum for political dialogue in the hemisphere.