Prime Minister the Hon. Gaston Browne and the Antigua and Barbuda delegation have returned from what he has termed a very successful ten-day visit to the People’s Republic of China.
Noting that he was happy to be back home, Prime Minister Browne said that he had an excellent engagement with the Chinese leadership, having held wide-ranging discussions with Premier Li Qiang, and President Xi Jinping which resulted in the signing of ten Memoranda of Understanding benefiting Antigua and Barbuda’s development and the strengthening of relations between both countries.“We signed cooperation agreements to include enhancement in the Belt and Road relations, the global development initiative as well as trade and investment cooperation. We also signed infrastructural development agreements, in fact one of the most exciting is the re-piping of St. John’s and eventually all of Antigua and Barbuda. As you know we have a very aging piping infrastructure and we were able to accelerate the exchange of letters of commitment with the Chinese government, so we are confident that within the upcoming months, maybe within the next 24 months we should see firm commitment for the funding of the re-piping here in Antigua Barbuda as we seek to enhance our water infrastructure and to ensure that we can provide water on a sustainable basis,” Prime Minister Browne said.
Agreements were also signed covering digitalization, bio-medics, climate change and an agreement with the Zhejiang International Studies University and UWI Five Islands Campus.
Prime Minister Browne said that he is confident, based on the engagement, that the relationship between Antigua and Barbuda and the People’s Republic of China would be enhanced not only at the macro leadership level, based on the strong relations that exist with the Chinese leadership, but also at the micro business level in which the delegation visited a number of businesses in bio-medics and climate change to include electric vehicles. He said that he is hoping that his government can encourage at least two electric vehicle firms to do business here on Antigua, as the country seeks to transition from fossil fuel vehicles into EVs which would help to reduce the country’s carbon footprint during the transition from fossil fuels into renewables.“Overall, very exciting and certainly very positive developments in terms of agreements that we signed and we also launched our new embassy in Beijing, so we now have a physical presence in Beijing and that too signals that we have now lifted our bilateral relationship to a new level. We will continue to strive to increase and improve this relationship, to take this relationship to new heights because it’s one of the most important developmental relationship for Antigua and Barbuda. I am very pleased to be back home and I would say that the trip was a most successful trip.”Other members of the Antigua and Barbuda delegation returning today include Health, Wellness, Social Transformation and the Environment Minister, Sir Molwyn Joseph, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Trade and Barbuda Affairs, the Hon. E. P Chet Greene, Chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, Mr. Michael Joseph and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ambassador Lionel Hurst.
