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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador -- The Organization of American States (OAS) and the governments of Barbados, Grenada, and Saint Lucia on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement for implementation of the project “Promoting Firearms Marking in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

The agreement was signed by the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza; the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Barbados, Maxine McClean; the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Grenada, Karl Hood, and the Permanent Representative of Saint Lucia to the OAS, Ambassador Michael Louis.

During the ceremony, which took place in the framework of the forty-first regular session of the OAS General Assembly, the Secretary General made plain his satisfaction with the signing of the instrument, saying, “We welcome the commitment of the governments of Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia to strengthening controls and building up the capacity needed to combat arms trafficking more effectively.”

McClean underscored the importance of this agreement for the region and thanked the OAS and its member states for “watching over the security of the region’s citizens.”

Louis said that the signing of the document was “a step forward in monitoring illegal arms,” and that his government was interested in “continuing to work with the OAS in this and other areas to maintain security in our countries.”

For his part, Hood stressed the significance of the accord, given that “the security of the hemisphere is immensely important and, therefore, we are extremely pleased to be party to this agreement.”

The agreement is to be implemented with funding provided by the United States.

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