Browne heads to China to strengthen diplomatic relationship
ANTIGUA AND Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne is leading a delegation to the People’s Republic of China on a mission to improve his island’s relationship with that Asian country.
Browne and the other members of his delegation, which includes Health Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph, Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ambassador Lionel Hurst, and Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, Michael Joseph, left the island on Saturday for Beijing and are expected to hold wide-ranging bilateral talks with the leaders there.
Browne said China is Antigua and Barbuda’s most important development partner and has contributed to various areas infrastructural development.
“I think it’s going to be a great engagement, one in which we would be able to enhance the bilateral relationship between the People’s Republic of China and Antigua and Barbuda.
“There is no other country that has given us more grants and concession loans than China within the last two decades, and as a consequence, we’ve been able to build out our socio-economic infrastructure,” Browne said.
He credits the generosity of China for the country’s air and sea ports as well as the buildings housing the University of the West Indies (UWI) Five Islands Campus and the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium.
“The People’s Republic of China has been using its resources to assist developing countries globally, building capacity to ensure that we, too, enjoy some level of prosperity.”
He lauds the country, describing it as a “selfless nation globally, in terms of its outlook, [as] it continues to help countries in the global south to develop capacity and to improve the living standards of the people.
“Instead of being involved in all these senseless global conflicts, China has been utilising its resources to ensure that … all of humanity can share equitably in the resources of the planet.”
The prime minister did not disclose what exactly the talks would surround but said: “We are now seeking to strengthen the relationship, and I’m quite sure that we would return with an agreement that would further enhance the bilateral relationship between the People’s Republic of China and Antigua and Barbuda.”