ACS gets new secretary general

DR RUBEN SILIE VALDEZ of the Dominican Republic has been elected as the third secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS).   Valdez was unanimously elected as ACS secretary at the organisation’s third extraordinary meeting of its ministerial council in Panama on February 12. Dr Valdez succeeds prof Norman Girvan of Jamaica, whose four-year term ends on February 29. ACS delegates at the Panama meeting expressed recognition and gratitude for Girvan’s accomplishments in “raising the profile of the Association and keeping alive the dream of a greater united Caribbean.”

Girvan in turn congratulated Valdez on his appointment, describing the ACS secretary general elect as “a true Caribbean man with an unquestioned commitment to the development of a Caribbean identity and regional cooperation.” Dr Valdez is well-known throughout the Caribbean as an outstanding historian, sociologist, educator and administrator. In 1996, Dr Valdez served as director of the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences. His vast expertise in education and migration issues led to his appointment as advisor to the vice-president and secretary of state of Education and Ambassador in the Foreign Ministry in 2001.