An investor from the United Kingdom is among several persons who have expressed interest in setting up business in Antigua and Barbuda.
The revelation was made by Foreign Affairs Minister E P Chet Greene who spoke to Observer on Tuesday indicating that thus far, the country has garnered lots of business interest, one even in the aviation sector.
“There’s a lot of interest, I can report, in terms of other types of investment. As a matter of fact, we even have someone who wants to do an aviation business here in Antigua and Barbuda and so, we expect a visit from that individual in the next month or so,” he said.
“We believe that the whole preparation that was put into this exercise is by the High Commission and staff.”
Greene and a high-level team are attending a major business forum with the primary focus of promoting the country. The marketing team also includes Port Manager Darwin Telemaque; CEO of the country’s Citizenship by Investment Unit, Charmaine Donovan; WIOC CEO Gregory Georges; and cricketers Sir Richie Richardson, Sir Curtly Ambrose and Sir Andy Roberts, among others.
Greene mentioned that the key areas of discussion were the resurgence of the tourism sector and the effective management of Covid in the country.
Chief Executive Officer of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority (ABTA) Colin James is also in the UK and shared his delight yesterday over the body’s recent talks with several media agencies.
“We have had like over 40 members of the media here asking questions, giving videos about the destination, not just on tourism but investments as well and the opportunity for growth.
“We have been conducting a number of interviews and I think the crowning part of that was having the knights, Sir Richie, Sir Andy and Sir Curtly, actually promoting cricket to an audience of millions and we have twinned that with the celebration of our 40th anniversary. I think we have been able to be as efficient as possible,” James said.
Talks were also held with hotel partners, tour operators and even airline partners.
“What has been remarkable has been the feedback that our protocols are strong. We have some of the easiest protocols to understand and we are seeing it in the forward bookings,” James added.
The team heads to Leicester today where Antiguans and Barbudans in the diaspora will be engaged.
The event was organised by Antigua and Barbuda’s High Commissioner to the UK, Karen Mae-Hill.