CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC):

Eastern Caribbean countries are taking a joint approach to the global economic meltdown that is currently impacting negatively on their tourism industries.

Ministers of tourism of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) met in a special session Monday and charged the OECS Secretariat with developing a paper on the subject for presentation at next month's Special Meeting of the Heads of Government and Ministers of Finance of the subregion.

The paper is expected to articulate the issues confronting the industry. OECS Economic Affairs Director Milton Cato said the secretariat had been requested to identify the steps being taken in the respective member states to address the challenges, as well as to suggest additional measures that could be employed to cushion the impact on the vital foreign exchange-earning sector.

Global financial crisis

OECS ministers of tourism met in a video conference convened by the Castries-based secretariat to discuss the impact of the current global financial crisis on the respective national tourism industries.

The governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner, also participated in the link-up that sought to formulate a strategy that would allow the regional industry to respond to the crisis.