St Lucia and Mexico celebrate 42-years of diplomatic relations

St Lucia and Mexico celebrate 42-years of diplomatic relations on Monday. Prime Minister of St Lucia Allen Chastanet shared the information on his Facebook page.He stated that 42 Years ago, on May 17th 1979, Saint Lucia and Mexico officially established diplomatic relations. Since then, the two countries have developed a deep friendship based on mutual respect and trust."From education to infrastructure, Mexico has been an integral part of our development and has also been a country whose interests mirrors ours on critically important issues such as hemispheric stability and climate change," stated St Lucian Prime Minister Allen Chastanet.Mexico and Saint Lucia built diplomatic relations on May 17th 1979, and the relations between both countries have typically taken place in multilateral conferences like the United Nations.St Lucian Prime Minister Allen Chastanet officially visited Mexico City in October 2017, where he met then Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and both leaders reviewed potential mutual cooperation programs, with a focus on technical, scientific, cultural and infrastructure fields. Discussions were also held on climate change, commercial facilitation and comprehensive risk managementIn 1981, Santa Lucia joined the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States(OECS). In 2005, Mexico began a resident embassy in St Lucian capital, Castries.

In November 2010, the former Saint Lucian Prime Minister Stephenson King visited Mexico to attend the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Cancún.

In 2013, when St Lucia suffered from Hurricane Chantal, then Mexican foreign minister José Antonio Meade visited the country and donated US$500,000 towards the rebuilding efforts. Mexico had also promised to reconstruct the St Jude's hospital in Castries, and in November 2016, then Mexican Foreign undersecretary Socorro Flores Liera visited the island and inaugurated the hospital.