KINGSTON, St Vincent (CMC):

As controversy continues over his appointment, Camillo Gonsalves, the eldest son of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, has defended his suitability to serve as St. Vincent's new ambassador to the United Nations.

"I wonder if it is preferable to some that I do nothing, that I be nothing, because my father is Ralph Gonsalves. I have worked hard to qualify myself," the younger Gonsalves said.

Speaking Wednesday at a media conference called to formally announce his appointment, Gonsalves, 35, noted that he was only four days younger than Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt, so age could not have been a factor for those who opposed his appointment.

The young attorney-at-law, who was part of Vincentian diplomatic delegations to Libya, Ethiopia, Venezuela, South Korea and previously represented St Vincent and the Grenadines at several high level Caribbean Community bodies, said he believed that the charges of nepotism were misplaced