ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Feb 16, CMC – Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Monday defended the Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme that is being implemented by several countries in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to improve their socio-economic development.
Under the CBI programme, these countries, like Antigua and Barbuda, provide citizenship for foreign nationals in return for making a substantial investment in the their socio economic development.
“For several Caribbean small island states, these are lawful, transparent development tools, operating within clear legal frameworks and strong oversight. They have been strengthened in consultation and with the participation of the European Union, United Kingdom and the United States,” Prime Minister Gaston Browne told the inaugural European Union-Caribbean Parliamentary Assembly (CACP).
The three day Assembly has been described by EU as an “historic step in the partnership under the Samoa Agreement” allowing for parliamentarians from Europe and the Caribbean to strengthen political dialogue and discuss key shared priorities, including climate resilience and energy transition, trade and investment, transnational organised crime, territorial integrity and multilateralism, and the situation in Haiti.
The Assembly comprises one member of parliament of each State Party in the Caribbean, and an equal number of Members of the European Parliament. The Caribbean countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St.Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.
(Details in Business section)
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