Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador Sir Ronald Sanders Tuesday assumed office as the president of the Permanent Council of the Organisation of American States (OAS).

In a ceremony at the OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, Sir Ronald was welcomed to the office by Secretary-General Luis Almargo Lemes and ambassadors from the Organisation’s 35 member states.

Sanders will preside over the activities of the OAS until April this year with a packed agenda which includes issues involving general elections in Haiti as well as problem areas in some member countries. Under his stewardship, the Permanent Council will also advance preparations for the General Assembly, the highest decision-making organ of the OAS. The General Assembly will be held in the Dominican Republic in June.

Indicating the focus of his chairmanship, Sanders expressed concern about the financial health of the OAS, saying that its “financial state is dire and urgently needs to be addressed if the organisation is to continue to fulfil its obligations to the development needs of the people of its member states”.

Ambassador Sanders is expected to elaborate on his concerns about the Organisation in his inaugural statement to the Permanent Council on January 20.

Sir Ronald’s first act as chairman was to receive the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Bolivia, Juan Carlos Tejeda, to discuss climate change and initiatives that could be taken to ensure that undertakings given at the climate meeting in Paris last December actually deliver results.

Sir Ronald, who writes a weekly Sunday column in the

Jamaica Observer, has been an advocate of the interests of small states in the global warming debate. He is expected to advance discussion of this issue, as well as threats to the financial services sector of the Caribbean during his chairmanship.