Above: St Lucia’s Permanent Ambassador Sonia Merlyn Johnny takes over the chair from St Kitts and Nevis’ Jacinth Lorna Henry-Martin (OAS Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia has officially assumed the chair of the Organization of American States’ Permanent Council.

Sonia Merlyn Johnny, St Lucia’s Permanent Representative to the OAS, took over the position from outgoing chair St Kitts and Nevis.

The position rotates every three months.

Johnny said holding the chair represented a “high honour and great responsibility” for her and St Lucia.

She called on OAS member countries to show that “in this organization we can work together and we can reach consensus.”

Jacinth Lorna Henry-Martin, St Kitts, Permanent Representative, said it had been a great honour to lead the regional body for the previous three months and a “very important responsibility to have directed the body that brings together the countries of the Hemisphere.”

The chair rotates following the alphabetical order in Spanish of the names of OAS member states, with the vice chair rotating in the opposite direction.

The incoming Vice Chair of the council is Trinidad and Tobago’s Permanent Representative, Neil Parsan.