By: Spokesman Newsroom
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Wednesday 21st September 2022) — Newly-elected Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew is calling on all citizens and residents to have a collective mindset to build the country. In his Independence Address to the Nation on Monday 19th September 2022, he said: “I encourage us all to have that collective mindset to build our country, to mould and empower our youth, to protect and empower our women, to truly live out the philosophy of Country Above Self. Indeed, as our Independence 39 theme states, we must all collectively ‘refocus, recreate and redesign.’ When we do that, when we realise that St. Kitts and Nevis can be no greater than ourselves, then we will be able to answer that question and say ‘Yes, we are independent!’”
He quoted Marcus Garvey’s 1937 words spoken to Kittitians at the Mutual Improvement Society Hall: “Your country can be no greater than yourselves. It is not God that makes the cities and towns. God gives you the land, but you build the cities. Your St. Kitts and Nevis will be no greater than your mindset.” On the diplomatic front, Foreign Minister the Right Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas commenced participation in the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 21st September 2022, including a brief ceremony signalling the establishment of diplomatic relations with Andorra — a small mountainous country in Southwestern Europe with a population of approximately 80,000 and tourism as its main economic driver. The two Foreign Ministers discussed possibilities of bilateral cooperation on climate action and tourism. Dr. Douglas also met with Singapore Foreign Minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan at a meeting of CARICOM Foreign Ministers convened by Singapore’s Forum of Small States (FOSS), which includes 108 small states from all regions of the world.