St. George’s: Addressing the Ministerial Dialogue on the Inter-American Social Charter which is being conducted in Caracas Venezuela, Minister of Social Development Hon. Yolande Bain-Joseph told her counterparts that “the new realities which confront us require that we approach the problems of social development from a new paradigm" Minister Bain-Joseph took the opportunity to thank the member states of the hemisphere for reaching out to Grenada in crisis and called on the dialogue to undertake the process of fighting poverty and social injustice in a crises mode. The minister said that the challenges faced by Grenada in the wake of back to back hurricanes have only compounded the efforts of Government to keep its promise of a better standard of living. "The gains made since our independence are being threatened by the natural disasters. However Grenada remains an active member of the Caribbean Community and the Inter-American process in the search for solutions to achieve sustainable development" The Minister applauded Venezuela for their initiative to dialogue on the subject of preparing a social charter and a plan of action instruments that would arm governments in their fight against poverty. The meeting in Venezuela came as a preparatory meeting for the start of the negotiations of the Social Charter which would begin at the OAS in Washington on September 1st 2005. Grenada’s delegation to the ministerial meeting included Ambassador Denis G. Antoine, and Ambassador McPhail, Grenada’s Ambassador to Venezuela. Source: Ministry of Social Development