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Prime Ministers, Chief Ministers and Ministers for Finance of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union will meet in Saint Lucia on 01 October 2010 with senior officials of the World Bank Group in a Roundtable Consultation to discuss the growth prospects of the OECS in light of the international financial crisis.

Since January 2009, the member countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) have held a number of strategic meetings to engage in an in-depth assessment of the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on member countries and to discuss strategies in response to the crisis.

With the signing of an Economic Union Treaty on 18 June 2010, member states have established a fundamental platform for the development of a regional growth strategy that is aligned with the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union Eight Point Stabilisation and Growth Programme.

Recognising the importance of engaging development partners and international financial institutions in the adjustment process, this Roundtable Consultation is being convened within the context of the recently approved Regional Partnership Strategy that seeks to support economic stability, competitiveness, and inclusive and sustained growth within the OECS.

The meeting will also undertake a review of the World Bank's 2005 Publication "Towards a New Agenda for Growth", identify impediments to growth, discuss the role of Tourism and the leading transformational sector and agree upon further areas of collaboration and engagement with the World Bank Group.

This Consultation is a follow up to the meeting of Heads of Government with the World Bank Group President Zoellick in March 2010 and follows the fourth Joint Meeting of the OECS Authority and the ECCB Monetary Council which will be held on 30 September 2010.

The Consultation will be chaired by Dr the Hon. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Chairman of the Joint OECS Authority and ECCB Monetary Council.