Thu | Mar 28, 2024

PM Browne outlines foreign relations policy

Published:Monday | January 27, 2020 | 12:00 AM
Gaston Browne, Antiguan prime minister.

ST JOHN’S (CMC):

The Antigua and Barbuda government has welcomed the investments and financial aid being provided by China as it reiterated its foreign relations policy of maintaining “strong diplomatic and friendly relations” with a number of developed and developing countries.

“I express on behalf of our government and our people, our gratitude to those countries that have contributed, through loans, grants and technical assistance, to our economic and social advancement. Among these countries are the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Cuba, Japan, the Russian Federation, Venezuela, Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Republic of Korea, India, New Zealand, the United States,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne said.

“I am honour-bound to thank especially the People’s Republic of China because of its responsiveness to our needs, and the extent of its contribution to almost all sectors of our economy and social development,” Browne said, noting the magnitude of the PRC support to Antigua and Barbuda.

“The hundreds of millions of dollars provided by China in grants, technical assistance, and concessional loans, have supported infrastructure, education, agriculture, healthcare, energy, national security, housing, sports and community development projects.”

Earlier this week, the United States urged Caribbean countries to be wary of accepting “easy money from countries like China” as Washington sought to improve its decades’ old relationship with the region.

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo addressing a policy discussion on US-Caribbean relations in Jamaica, acknowledged that the North American giant had been absent from the Caribbean for a long period.

“I think for too long the United States focused on the Caribbean only when natural disaster hit. Too many US officials came here to talk about aid and aid alone, ” Pompeo told the forum that included the foreign ministers of Haiti, St Lucia, St Kitts-Nevis, Belize, and the host country.

“I believe that the United States and the Caribbean can do much more together, and importantly, should do much more together. We are natural allies and natural partners. Now is the time to move forward with even closer ties with so much opportunity,” he said.

But Prime Minister Browne told legislators during the budget presentation last week that his administration was grateful for the assistance from the PRC, emphasising also how important the mutual respect is between both nations and the reliability of Antigua and Barbuda’s support in the international fora.

Browne also used the opportunity to expand on the country’s basic foreign policy, saying that Antigua and Barbuda will continue to extend the hand of friendship to all.

“I want to make it clear that Antigua and Barbuda adheres to the principles and precepts laid down by our nation’s founding father, Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Snr. On the day that we became a sovereign nation; he said this, to a joint session of both Houses of Parliament: ‘We extend the hand of friendship to all. But the hand of friendship should not be misinterpreted as an invitation to dictate our policies’.”