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The Foreign Ministry of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Sir Louis Hilton Straker

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade & Commerce

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Louis Straker was born on February 23, 1942, in Layou, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He has been married to the former Mrs. Lynda Taitt of Trinidad for the past forty-four years. They are the proud parents of two sons and a daughter – all of whom are grown and married.

He received his primary education at the Layou Government School.  His secondary education was obtained at the Emmanuel High School, from which he graduated in 1960 with a Senior Cambridge Certificate. After High School graduation, he served as a primary school teacher at the Layou Government School.

In 1962, he emigrated to the United States of America to further his education.  He attended Hunter College of the City University of New York, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science in 1967.

As a student at Hunter College, Louis Straker was a member of Student Government, President of Political Science Club, President of the International Student Organisation, and the World Student Magazine published by the International Student Organisation.

In 1967, Straker began a career in banking with the Chemical Bank of New York, starting as a Management Trainee, and worked his way up to a Vice President.  While working fulltime, he attended the Long Island University at night, and obtained a Master of Business Administration from the University.

He retired from Banking in 1992 and returned to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in 1993, at the request of the people in the Central Leeward Constituency to be their Parliamentary Representative in Government.

He contested the Elections of February 1994 and was elected as a Member of Parliament sitting Opposition.

He again contested the Election in June 1998, and was re-elected to Parliament as an Opposition Member.  In 2001 he contested the Election again, and was re-elected for the third time.  This time his party won the Government and the Prime Minister appointed him Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Commerce. Hon. Sir Louis Straker retired from the political realms in 2010 and five years late returned and was re-elected in the General Elections of 2015.

Currently, Louis Straker is still the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Commerce.  He has acted as Prime Minister and Chairman of Cabinet Meetings on numerous occasions whenever the Prime Minister is unavailable or out of State.  He has represented the Prime Minister at Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings; and represented this country at Ministerial Meetings of the World Trade Organisation; the European Union; African, Caribbean, and Pacific Meetings; Summit to the Americas; and other Ministerial Meetings of the Organisation of American States.  He is an alternate Governor for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for the Caribbean Development Bank, and has represented the Prime Minister at Meetings of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

On January 01, 2006, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was pleased to make him a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG), which in effect makes him Sir Louis Straker.

He is a founding member of the governing Unity Labour Party and was elected as First Chairman of the Party.  In 2000 he was elected as Deputy Political Leader of the Unity Labour Party, a position he still holds.