Dr Julian Robert Hunte
Dr Julian Robert Hunte is being given the award of Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (KCMG) for outstanding contribution to the public and private sector in Saint Lucia and the Commonwealth Caribbean community.
“Throughout his career, Dr Hunte has held a number of key positions in public life and national planning and development,” a release from Government House said.
“The Queen has been graciously pleased on the advice of Her Majesty’s Saint Lucia ministers to approve in the New Year’s Honours List, 2014, the award.”
Dr Hunte entered politics in 1967 and served first as Castries city councillor and later, from 1970 to 1971, as mayor of the city of Castries. In 1984, he became the political leader of the Saint Lucia Labour Party. He was elected to Parliament in 1987 and served as leader of the opposition until 1996.
Prior to his life in politics, he served as chairman of the Saint Lucia National Development Corporation, the country’s principal investment agency. He also served as a director of the Saint Lucia Development Bank and the National Commercial Bank. He is also a former chairman of the Insurance Advisory Council.
As an advocate of labour rights and fair labour standards, he has also been active in the trade union movement. He served as an executive member of the Civil Service Association.
He co-founded and chaired for two decades the Saint Lucia National Trust, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to identifying and preserving the environmental, historical and cultural legacy of Saint Lucia.
He is a former ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and permanent representative of Saint Lucia to the United Nations. In 2001, Dr Hunte was appointed to the Senate of Saint Lucia and shortly thereafter became Minister of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation. In 2003, he became president of the United Nations General Assembly. In 2008, he was honoured by being elected chairman of the Council of Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly.
Dr Hunte was an avid sportsman. He represented his island in cricket and later became an administrator of the sport. He served as president of the Saint Lucia Cricket Association and of the Windward Islands Cricket Board of Control for more than two decades. Between 2007 and 2013, he served as president of the West Indies Cricket Board.