BASSETERRE, St. Kitts — Multiple purposes are served by the St. Kitts and Nevis’ Regional Integration and Diaspora Unit (RIDU), which was designed to lead the implementation of a range of initiatives connected with the regional integration movement and the diaspora, according to His Excellency Lionel Sydney Osborne, Head of the RIDU, Ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Organization of Caribbean States (OECS) Commissioner.

RIDU is a unit within the Office of the Prime Minister that bears the responsibility for leading the country’s thrust for deeper integration in the OECS, CARICOM and the Diaspora.

“We are acting in a way similar to a post office, so information from the CARICOM Secretariat and the OECS Commission passes through the ambassador or the commissioner,” explains HE Ambassador Osborne. “One of the things we are required to do is to make sure the information gets to relevant ministries.”

Additionally, Ambassador Osborne said that the unit also “coordinates and manages a reporting system that covers all regional meetings,” as well as “act as a source of information and dissemination.”

He noted that one of RIDU’s goals is to engage in a public awareness campaign so that persons can fully understand and appreciate the work of the unit.

“I think we want to have a programme on the unit because it is not just regional in terms of the regional diaspora, but we also cover globally,” said H.E. Osborne. “Something like that is important so that one can understand how the RIDU is supposed to function.”

RIDU was established to prepare nationals and residents to embrace opportunities and challenges. These are inherent in the integration process with changing circumstances taking place in the Eastern Caribbean’s Small Island States.

Critical issues of focus include: the free movement of people through the OECS and CARICOM; free circulation of goods and services; and closer political integration. RIDU also serves as a vehicle to facilitate closer ties with the Kittitian and Nevisian Diaspora.

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