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 H.E.
Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, President of the fifty-eighth session
of the United Nations General Assembly, is Minister for
External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation
of Saint Lucia, a Senator and Member of Parliament, a Justice
of the Peace and a business executive.
Mr.
Hunte, who has extensive experience in the multilateral
process, and a keen interest in the issues of regional cooperation
and the role of small states within the United Nations,
was Saint Lucia's Ambassador and Permanent Representative
to the United Nations from 1998 to 2001. During this time,
he served as Chairman of the Special Committee on Decolonisation,
formally known as the Special Committee on the Situation
with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on
the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
He has participated in various international summits and
conferences convened by the United Nations, including the
2000 Millennium Summit, the 2002 International Conference
on Financing for Development, in Monterrey, for which he
served as Vice-President, and the 2002 World Summit for
Sustainable Development, in Johannesburg, to which he led
his country's delegation.
At the
regional level, Mr. Hunte has provided leadership for standing
bodies of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In 2002 and
2003, he served as Chair of the Council for Foreign and
Community Relations, responsible for coordinating foreign
policy matters among CARICOM member states. In 2001, he
was entrusted with carrying out CARICOM's diplomatic initiatives
to bring about a resolution to the political and economic
challenges facing the Republic of Haiti. He has led several
CARICOM missions to Haiti and has also participated in joint
CARICOM/Organization of American States (OAS) missions to
that country. From 1991 to 1998, Mr. Hunte served as founder
and Chairman of the Standing Conference of Popular Democratic
Parties of the Eastern Caribbean (SCOPE), an alliance of
political parties of Eastern Caribbean States having common
aims and ideologies for national political development.
Mr.
Hunte's career as a political activist and politician spans
more than thirty-five years. Entering Saint Lucia's politics
in 1967, he served first as a City Councillor and, from
1970 to 1971, as Mayor of his home city of Castries. Joining
the Labour Party in 1978, he became its Vice Chairman and
chaired its reorganising committee. In 1984, he became the
Party Leader and was elected to Parliament in 1987, serving
as Leader of the Opposition until 1996. In 2001, he was
appointed to the Senate of Saint Lucia and was invited by
the Prime Minister to join the Cabinet that same year.
In the
Government of Saint Lucia, Mr. Hunte has held a number of
key positions in national development planning and implementation,
most notably as Chair of the Saint Lucia National Development
Corporation, the country's principal development agency
and investors' link to relevant Government ministries. Mr.
Hunte has also served as Director of the Saint Lucia Development
Bank and the National Commercial Bank of Saint Lucia. Other
national development programmes and initiatives to which
he has provided leadership and direction include the Saint
Lucia Model Farms Limited and Halcyon Days Hotel Limited,
managers of a major resort facility owned in part by the
Government of Saint Lucia, and he has served as Chairman
of the Insurance Advisory Council of Saint Lucia and Director
of the Windward Islands Banana Development and Exporting
Company.
An advocate
of labour rights and fair labour standards, Mr. Hunte has
also been active in the trade union movement, serving as
President of the National Workers Union, as Treasurer of
the Saint Lucia Seamen and Waterfront General Workers Trade
Union and as an executive member of the Saint Lucia Civil
Service Association.
In his
business career, Mr. Hunte is Chairman and Chief Executive
of the Julian R. Hunte Group of Companies, with a network
of agencies dealing with insurance, real estate and packaging
and storage.
In support
of culture and the arts, Mr. Hunte co-founded and chaired
for two decades the Saint Lucia National Trust, a non-governmental
organisation dedicated to identifying and preserving the
historical and cultural legacy of Saint Lucia. He has served
in various capacities with many other organisations, holding,
among others, the post of President of the Saint Lucia Mental
Health Association.
An avid sports enthusiast, Mr. Hunte has participated in
the game of cricket both as a national player and as an
administrator at the national, regional and international
levels. He has served as President of the Saint Lucia National
Cricket Association and of the Windward Islands Cricket
Board of Control, and as Vice-President of the West Indies
Cricket Board, which he has represented on the International
Cricket Council, the institution responsible for international
governance of the game.
Educated
in Saint Lucia, Mr. Hunte has undertaken extensive studies
in Business Administration and Accounts.
In June
1979, Mr. Hunte was awarded the Order of the British Empire
(OBE), in recognition of his dedicated service to the Government
and people of Saint Lucia.
Born
on 14 March 1940, in Castries, Mr. Hunte is married to Charlotte
Elizabeth Jennifer Hunte (nee Clarke) and has four children.
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