Officials within the St. Kitts National Youth Parliament Association (SKNYPA) has described the recent working visit of the National Youth Parliament Association of Antigua and Barbuda (NYPAAB) as a success and said that the public can look forward to more collaboration in the future.

This is due to the formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two youth associations. SKNYPA’s President Mauriel Knight and NYPAAB President Kamalie Mannix signed the MOU for their respective organizations after a joint mock parliament on Friday (November 25, 2022).

“It basically establishes and details the relation that SKNYPA and the NYPAAB will have,” Mr. Knight said, noting that a virtual version of the joint agreement was signed in February this year.

President Mannix noted that several joint initiatives are spelled out in the memorandum. The most significant of which is an annual exchange. As such, SKNYPA will visit Antigua in 2023. However, plans for this event are shaping up to exceed original plans following a recent engagement with the Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Governor, Timothy Antoine and other senior bank officials.

“They would have given the indication of support to the organization that they would want to finance and back a regional youth parliament sitting next year which will happen in Antigua and so looking at that then gives us the opportunity to extend the joint agreement not only to Antigua and Barbuda but then to the other islands in the OECS,” President Mannix stated.

He expressed his belief that the organizations are on the verge of creating something that will have a far-reaching positive impact on the future of young people and the development of democracy in the sub-region.