# Foreign relations of Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia maintains friendly relations with the major powers active in the Caribbean, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and France. Saint Lucia has no extant international disputes, aside from tension resulting from the island's status as a transit point for South American drugs destined for the United States and Europe.
Saint Lucia's Permanent Representative (or ambassador) to the United Nations as of February 22, 2017, was Cosmos Richardson, who was still in office as of January 2018.

## History

Saint Lucia participated in the American-led invasion of Grenada in 1983, sending members of its Special Services Unit into active duty. It was subsequently one of eight countries to cast a vote against a United Nations General Assembly motion condemning the invasion.
As a member of CARICOM, St. Lucia strongly backed efforts by the United States to implement UN Security Council Resolution 940, designed to restore democracy to Haiti. St. Lucia agreed to contribute personnel to the multinational force which restored the democratically elected government of Haiti in October 1994.
St. Lucia participated along with 14 other Caribbean nations in a summit with US President Bill Clinton in Bridgetown, Barbados, in May 1997. The summit was the first-ever meeting in the region between the U.S. and Caribbean heads of government, and strengthen the basis for regional cooperation on justice and counternarcotics, finance and development, and trade issues.

## Diplomatic relations

List of countries which Saint Lucia established diplomatic relations with:
Date :
| 1 | United Kingdom | 22 February 1979 |
| 2 | Barbados | 23 February 1979 |
| 3 | Canada | 23 February 1979 |
| 4 | Guyana | 23 February 1979 |
| 5 | Jamaica | 23 February 1979 |
| 6 | South Korea | 23 February 1979 |
| 7 | Mexico | 17 May 1979 |
| 8 | United States | 11 June 1979 |
| 9 | Cuba | 23 August 1979 |
| 10 | North Korea | 13 September 1979 |
| 11 | France | 14 September 1979 |
| 12 | Venezuela | 14 September 1979 |
| 13 | Romania | 15 November 1979 |
| 14 | Argentina | 13 December 1979 |
| 15 | Brazil | 21 December 1979 |
| 16 | Bahamas | 1979 |
| 17 | Dominica | 1979 |
| 18 | Haiti | 1979 |
| 19 | Israel | 1979 |
| 20 | Italy | 1979 |
| 21 | Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 1979 |
| 22 | Trinidad and Tobago | 1979 |
| 23 | Ecuador | 1 January 1980 |
| 24 | Germany | 8 January 1980 |
| 25 | Japan | 11 January 1980 |
| 26 | Cyprus | 24 July 1980 |
| 27 | Greece | 18 November 1980 |
| 28 | Suriname | 18 November 1980 |
| 29 | Belgium | 1980 |
| 30 | Iraq | 1980 |
| 31 | Netherlands | 1980 |
| 32 | Belize | 21 September 1981 |
| 33 | Sweden | 1981 |
| 34 | Australia | 17 January 1982 |
| 35 | India | 8 February 1982 |
| 36 | Colombia | 18 March 1982 |
| 37 | Grenada | 6 October 1982 |
| 38 | Denmark | 20 December 1982 |
| 39 | Bangladesh | 12 May 1983 |
| 40 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 19 September 1983 |
| 41 | Antigua and Barbuda | 1983 |
| — | Republic of China | 13 January 1984 |
| 42 | Oman | 28 March 1984 |
| — | Holy See | 1 September 1984 |
| 43 | Peru | 1985 |
| 44 | Spain | 2 May 1986 |
| 45 | Morocco | 9 March 1988 |
| 46 | Seychelles | 13 July 1988 |
| 47 | Dominican Republic | 1988 |
| 48 | Thailand | 4 April 1989 |
| 49 | Uruguay | 1 September 1989 |
| 50 | Norway | 1990 |
| 51 | Chile | 21 March 1991 |
| 52 | Costa Rica | 1991 |
| 54 | Guatemala | 1 April 1992 |
| 54 | Malaysia | 9 October 1992 |
| 55 | Marshall Islands | 1992 |
| 56 | Nicaragua | 1992 |
| 57 | Paraguay | 18 June 1993 |
| 58 | Singapore | 15 January 1994 |
| 59 | Indonesia | 2 February 1994 |
| 60 | El Salvador | 2 February 1994 |
| 61 | Panama | 10 July 1995 |
| 62 | Czech Republic | 6 August 1996 |
| 63 | Portugal | 19 September 1996 |
| 64 | South Africa | 12 December 1996 |
| 65 | Brunei | 1996 |
| — | China (suspended) | 8 September 1997 |
| 66 | Croatia | 10 December 1997 |
| — | Sovereign Military Order of Malta | 1999 |
| 67 | Poland | 24 May 2000 |
| 68 | North Macedonia | 24 August 2000 |
| 69 | Belarus | 25 August 2000 |
| 70 | Armenia | 17 October 2000 |
| 71 | Ireland | 2000 |
| 72 | Saudi Arabia | 2000 |
| 73 | Russia | 19 April 2004 |
| 74 | Ethiopia | 3 August 2004 |
| 75 | Austria | 2 June 2005 |
| 76 | Turkey | 25 June 2005 |
| 77 | Slovenia | 29 August 2005 |
| 78 | Tajikistan | 5 October 2005 |
| 79 | Hungary | 7 October 2005 |
| 80 | Iceland | 7 May 2006 |
| 81 | Switzerland | 10 June 2006 |
| 82 | Latvia | 21 June 2006 |
| 83 | Lithuania | 19 March 2009 |
| 84 | Estonia | 23 September 2009 |
| 85 | Finland | 23 September 2009 |
| 86 | Luxembourg | 23 September 2009 |
| 87 | Slovakia | 23 September 2009 |
| 88 | Libya | 30 October 2009 |
| 89 | Georgia | 25 February 2010 |
| 90 | Azerbaijan | 11 March 2010 |
| 91 | Malta | 11 March 2010 |
| 92 | Albania | 14 July 2010 |
| 93 | Egypt | 19 July 2010 |
| 94 | Montenegro | 24 September 2010 |
| 95 | Ukraine | 24 September 2010 |
| 96 | United Arab Emirates | 29 November 2010 |
| 97 | Kuwait | 31 January 2011 |
| 98 | Monaco | 12 May 2011 |
| — | Kosovo | 19 August 2011 |
| 99 | Maldives | 2 December 2011 |
| 100 | Kazakhstan | 5 December 2012 |
| 101 | Qatar | 1 March 2013 |
| 102 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 15 April 2013 |
| 103 | New Zealand | 17 May 2013 |
| 104 | Honduras | 5 June 2014 |
| 105 | Mongolia | 27 September 2014 |
| 106 | Mauritius | 7 November 2014 |
| — | State of Palestine | 14 September 2015 |
| 107 | Fiji | 27 January 2016 |
| 108 | Philippines | 29 March 2016 |
| 109 | Vietnam | 26 June 2018 |
| 110 | Gambia | 25 September 2018 |
| 111 | Kiribati | 25 September 2018 |
| 112 | Solomon Islands | 25 September 2018 |
| 113 | Sri Lanka | 25 June 2019 |
| 114 | Bolivia | 26 June 2019 |
| 115 | Nepal | 27 August 2019 |
| 116 | Rwanda | 28 August 2019 |
| 117 | Namibia | 29 October 2019 |
| 118 | Serbia | 13 November 2019 |
| 119 | Kenya | 10 December 2019 |
| 120 | San Marino | 7 February 2020 |
| 121 | Bulgaria | 5 November 2020 |
| 122 | Moldova | 3 March 2021 |
| 123 | Cape Verde | 20 September 2022 |
| 124 | Ivory Coast | 22 September 2022 |
| 125 | Tuvalu | 7 December 2022 |
| 126 | Bahrain | 13 December 2022 |
| 127 | Algeria | 19 December 2022 |
| 128 | Andorra | 20 September 2023 |
| 129 | Kyrgyzstan | 20 September 2023 |
| 130 | Liechtenstein | 20 September 2023 |
| 131 | Sierra Leone | 20 September 2023 |
| 132 | Timor-Leste | 8 November 2023 |
| 133 | Mauritania | 5 December 2023 |
| 134 | Botswana | 6 December 2023 |
| 135 | Samoa | 14 December 2023 |
| 136 | Pakistan | 28 May 2024 |
| 137 | Benin | 25 June 2024 |
| 138 | Mali | 26 June 2024 |
| 139 | Eritrea | 16 September 2024 |
| 140 | Ghana | 24 September 2024 |

## Bilateral relations

| Country | Formal Relations Began | Notes |
| Belize | 21 September 1981 | Both countries have established diplomatic relations on 21 September 1981. Both countries are full members of both Commonwealth of Nations and Association of Caribbean States. |
| France | 14 September 1979 | See France–Saint Lucia relations Both countries established diplomatic relations on February 22, 1979. Saint Lucia has an embassy in Paris France is accredited to Saint Lucia from its embassy in Castries, Saint Lucia. |
| India | 1982 | See India–Saint Lucia relations See also: Indo-Saint Lucian Relations between India and Saint Lucia date back to the mid-19th century when both countries were British colonies. The first Indians in Saint Lucia arrived on 1 May 1857 as indentured workers on board the Palmyra. Thirteen ships transported indentured labourers from India to Saint Lucia in the following decades. The last ship carrying Indian indentured workers, the Volga, arrived on the island on 10 December 1893. In total, nearly 4,500 Indians were brought to Saint Lucia, excluding those who died during the voyage. About 2,075 workers returned to India, while the rest remained in Saint Lucia or emigrated to other Caribbean nations such as Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. The last indenture contracts expired in 1897, and by the end of the 19th century, Saint Lucia had a population of 2,560 free Indians. Many Indians who had completed their indenture periods were unable to return home as they did not have sufficient funds to do so. The Indians that remained in Saint Lucia are the origin of the Indo-Saint Lucian community. The Embassy of India in Paramaribo, Suriname is concurrently accredited to Saint Lucia. Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Kenny D. Anthony held bilateral discussions on the sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York on 25 September 2015. Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy made a visit to Saint Lucia on 3–6 October 2016. Rudy held bilateral talks with Acting Prime Minister Guy Joseph, Minister of External Affairs Sarah Beaubrun Flood, Senator Hermanglid Francis, the Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security, the Minister of Commerce, Industrialists, Diaspora Associations, Academicians and other senior Saint Lucian government officials. Indo-Saint Lucians or Indian Saint Lucians are Saint Lucians of Indian ancestry, descended from the Indians who came to Saint Lucia in the 19th century as indentured workers. As of 2013, people of Indian descent are a minority ethnic group in the country, accounting for 2.4% of the country's population. An additional 11.9% of the country is multiracial, predominantly of Indian and African descent. They have completely assimilated with the local population and have little familiarity with Indian culture. Some Indo-Saint Lucians have held high offices such as Cabinet Ministers. As of December 2016, around 250 Indian citizens reside in Saint Lucia. Most members of the community are doctors and other professionals, while a few are businessmen engaged in imports, trading and running duty-free shops. |
| Ireland | 2000 | Ireland is representative to Saint Lucia from its embassy in Brasilia, Brazil Saint Lucia is representative to Ireland from its embassy in Havana, Cuba |
| Mexico | 17 May 1979 | See Mexico–Saint Lucia relations Mexico has an embassy in Castries. Saint Lucia is accredited to Mexico from its embassy in Washington, D.C., United States. |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 22 February 1979 | See Saint Lucia-Trinidad and Tobago relations Trinidad and Tobago has a consulate in Basseterre |
| Taiwan | 7 May 1984, severed 29 August 1997, Restored 30 April 2007 | St. Lucia had official diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) for about 13 years, but switched recognition to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1997. On 25 April 2007, the Premier of the Republic of China Su Tseng-chang, announced that St. Lucia and the ROC would resume formal diplomatic relations. On 1 May 2007, St. Lucia regained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). Within a few days, the People's Republic of China suspended diplomatic relations. On 4 June 2015, St. Lucia opened its embassy in Taipei, its first embassy in Asia. |
| Turkey | 25 May 2005 | See Saint Lucia–Turkey relations Turkish Embassy in Port of Spain is accredited to St. Lucia. Trade volume between the two countries was 3 million USD in 2019. |
| United Kingdom | 1979 | See Foreign relations of the United Kingdom Saint Lucia established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in 22 February 1979. Both countries are Commonwealth Realms. Saint Lucia maintains a high commission in London. The United Kingdom is accredited to its high commission in Castries. The UK governed Saint Lucia from 1803 to 1979, when Saint Lucia achieved full independence. Both countries share common membership of the Commonwealth; they are both parties of the UK–CARIFORUM continuity Trade Agreement. |
| United States | 11 June 1979 | See Saint Lucia–United States relations Saint Lucia has an embassy in Washington, D.C. United States is accredited to Saint Lucia from its embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados. |

## Multilateral relations

Saint Lucia is a member of several international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
ACCT (associate), ACP, ALBA, C, Caricom, CDB, CELAC, ECLAC, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OAS, OECS, OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO