By Robert A. Emmanuel
The Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff, Lionel Hurst, says stoking the ire of the United States would not be in the best interest of the country as it seeks to ensure the continuation of the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP).
Following high-level talks with officials from the US Treasury Department in St Kitts, Antigua and Barbuda was among five subregional countries which agreed to the implementation of six ‘principles’.
Several CIP programmes have faced scrutiny from the European Parliament, which have called them a threat to European security.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet press briefing on Thursday, the Chief of Staff claimed it was better to have the US in support on this issue, despite a number of trade disputes between the US and Antigua and Barbuda.
“What we are doing is balancing the interest and the hope is that our CIP will survive because it is under attack by the Europeans and we believe that it is good to have the Americans on our side,” Hurst said.
The six principles include a collective agreement on the treatment of CIP denials; interviews; additional checks by each country’s Financial Intelligence Unit; auditing of the programmes; retrieval of passports through assistance from overseas law enforcement agencies; and the treatment of Russians and Belarusians.
These principles are largely complementary to existing CIP protocols and were recommended by the US, acknowledging that disruption of the programmes could have a detrimental effect, considering CIP’s contribution to national revenue.
“[This] is very important to us and having the Americans not do battle with us over this would be good, as when they did battle with us over bananas and online gaming, they lost but…it is best not to irate the lions,” Hurst noted.
The latter was a reference to a dispute between the US and the twin island nation over cross-border online gambling. In 2005, the World Trade Organization’s appellate body upheld a ruling in favour of Antigua and Barbuda.
Relations became strained in 2007 when the World Trade Organization awarded Antigua and Barbuda annual trade sanctions worth US$21 million against the US for its failure to obey the ruling. Nevertheless, the relationship between the two countries remains amicable.