Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States - Membership

Membership

The OECS currently has nine members, spread across the Eastern Caribbean. Together, they form a near-continuous archipelago across the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands.

The two most geographically isolated members, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, have only associate membership of the organisation. As a result, diplomatic missions of the OECS do not represent these two states. For the purposes of further discussing the membership, they are treated as equals of the full members.

Six of the members were formerly colonies of the United Kingdom. The other three, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat remain overseas territories of the UK. Eight of the nine members consider Queen Elizabeth II to be sovereign (Dominica is a republic). There is no requirement for the members to have been British colonies, however the close historical, cultural and economic relationship fostered by them having all been British colonies is as much a factor in the membership of the OECS as their geographical proximity. As well, the Queen's likeness appears on the East Caribbean dollar's coins and banknotes.

All seven full members are also the founding members of the OECS, having been a part of the organisation since its founding on 18 June 1981. The British Virgin Islands was the first associate member, joining on 22 November 1984 and Anguilla is the latest associate member, having joined in 1995.

Membership is listed alphabetically

Although all of the current full and associate members are all past or present British dependencies, other islands in the region have expressed interest in becoming associate members of the OECS. The first was the United States Virgin Islands, which applied for associate membership in February 1990 and requested that US Federal Government allow the territory to participate as such. At that time, it was felt by the US government that it was not an appropriate time to make such a request. However, the US Virgin Islands remained interested in the OECS and, as of 2002, stated that it would revisit the issue with the US government at a later date. In 2001, Saba, an island of the Netherlands Antilles, decided to seek membership in the OECS. Saba's Island Council had passed a motion on May 30, 2001 calling for Saba's membership in the organisation and subsequently on June 7, 2001, the Executive Council of Saba decided in favour of membership. Saba's senator in the Netherlands Antilles parliament was then asked to present a motion requesting the Antillean parliament to support Saba's quest for membership. In addition to the support from the Antillean parliament, Saba also required a dispensation from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an associate member of the OECS. Saba's bid for membership was reportedly supported by St. Kitts and Nevis and discussed at the 34th meeting of OECS leaders in Dominica in July. Also in 2001, Sint Maarten, another part of the Netherlands Antilles, explored the possibility of joining the OECS. After learning of Saba's intentions to join, St. Maarten suggested exploring ways in which Saba and St. Maarten could support each other in their pursuit of membership.

None of the prospective members have become associate members as yet, but Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten do participate in the meetings of the Council of Tourism Ministers (as the Forum of Tourism Ministers of the Eastern Caribbean, along with representatives of Saint-Martin, Saint Barthélemy, Martinique and Guadeloupe).