By:Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 22, 2018 – Three new British Resident High Commissioners’ Office for the Eastern Caribbean and St. Kitts and Nevis not among them.
United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Thursday announced an expansion of the UK’s overseas network, with the opening of nine new diplomatic posts across the Commonwealth.
Three of these nine posts will be in the Eastern Caribbean, with new British Resident Commissioners’ offices in Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
These posts, along with the existing Resident Commissioner’s office in St. Lucia, will form an expanded network of UK representation in the Eastern Caribbean, under the auspices of the British High Commission in Barbados.
British High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, Janet Douglas, said that the expansion was part of a wider initiative to increase the breadth and depth of UK diplomatic presence across the world.
“I am delighted that we will be opening new offices in the Eastern Caribbean and are aiming for them to open in early 2019. This decision reflects our historical links with the region, and the UK’s commitment to strengthening our existing excellent relations. These new missions will be innovative and agile, and will improve the UK’s engagement with, and support for the Eastern Caribbean,” she said.
In addition, there will be new UK posts in the Bahamas, Lesotho, Swaziland, Samoa, Tonga and Vanuatu.
“As a Commonwealth family of nations, it is in our shared interest to boost prosperity, tackle security issues and clear up the environment… After we leave the EU, Global Britain will remain outward facing, open for business and a champion of the rules-based international order,” said Johnson in announcing the opening of the new posts.