Grenada’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), Yolande Smith on Wednesday assumed the interim Chair of the OAS Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI).
Recalling that leaders of the region recently adopted a digital transformation agenda at the IX Summit of the Americas, Ambassador Smith said her delegation looked forward to working with member states “to engage in a series of concrete discussions on hemispheric priorities and good practices which can lead to enhanced regional cooperation under a theme of digital transformation”.
Permanent Representative of Panama and outgoing Chair of CIDI, María del Carmen Roquebert, highlighted the advancement of women in OAS leadership positions, noting that her predecessor was also a woman, Ambassador Audrey Marks of Jamaica.
She also stressed the need to continue with efforts to help member states through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The regional challenges compounded by the pandemic have been guiding the work of the OAS and therefore CIDI. We have a collective responsibility to ensure that we all recover,” Ambassador Roquebert said.
The Chair of CIDI rotates among member states every six months.
