In less than one month, Saint Lucia will welcome over 200 law enforcement officials to its shores for the Regional Security System’s (RSS) Unity Exercise 2024 (UNEX ’24), which is scheduled to take place from April 2 to 13.
During this time, military and police officials from all RSS Member States, along with other regional and international partners, will participate in various training exercises designed to assess and enhance the interoperability, readiness and resilience of their forces, and to evaluate the application of command; control; communications; computers and intelligence (C4I).
Exercise Director, Lt. Col. Roberto Beltran, pointed out that the planning team, which included officials from RSS Headquarters and officers of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), have conducted meetings in Saint Lucia over the last few days to finalise plans for the “homegrown” training exercise.
“We have been on the ground in the host nation visiting the sites of the proposed simulations and exercises, ensuring that all details are finalised for a successful execution of UNEX 24. The planning team has worked tirelessly since the programme’s inception in January 2023 to create a schedule of events that would adequately assess and display the capacity of the Region’s security forces, following the training which they would have received from the programmes completed under the 11th EDF Project.
“Within the next few weeks, our public relations team will be communicating with members of the public through traditional and social media, and face-to-face engagements, to ensure that they are kept abreast of UNEX activities in Saint Lucia between April 2 and 13. These activities are designed to strengthen our law enforcement agencies so that they may be better equipped to perform their national law enforcement and RSS duties and protect the people for whose security they are responsible, while actively participating in a team of service personnel pulled from across the RSS to support nationally-led operations in stricken Member States,” the UNEX Director outlined.
Lt. Col. Beltran urged members of the public to cooperate with the RSS officials in this and future ventures given the significance of the RSS mechanism as a resource pool and capacity-building apparatus to support Member States’ efforts to develop and maintain stable and peaceful societies.
UNEX 2024 is being co-funded by the RSS and the European Union, in collaboration with the government of St. Lucia under the RSS 11th European Development Fund project.
Security officials from Antigua and Barbuda; Barbados; the Commonwealth of Dominica; Grenada; the Cooperative Republic of Guyana; St. Christopher and Nevis; St Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will be participating in the exercise.
SOURCE: Regional Security System
