A&B PM rejects Persad-Bissessar’s “unreliable partner” remarks on Caricom

Prime Minister (PM) Gaston Browne of Antigua and Barbuda (A&B) has taken issue with recent remarks by PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar of Trinidad and Tobago regarding the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). In a Sunday statement, the Antigua PM said her comments and the position taken by Antigua and Barbuda “merit a measured response grounded in facts, respect and the long history of Caribbean cooperation.”

According to Browne in his statement, Antigua and Barbuda has never questioned the sovereign right of any CARICOM member to conduct its bilateral relations as it sees fit. Equally, no member should question the legitimacy of another CARICOM state engaging responsibly, transparently and respectfully with international partners, including the United States (US), on matters that directly affect its citizens.
“Assertions that CARICOM is an unreliable partner to Trinidad and Tobago are difficult to reconcile with the economic record,” he said in the missive. Citing Trinidad and Tobago’s more than US $1.1 billion in foreign exchange earnings from trade with CARICOM in 2024 alone, he pointed out that CARICOM was Trinidad and Tobago’s second-largest export market, exceeded only by the US. “That trade has not been balanced. Trinidad and Tobago recorded the largest merchandise trade surplus within CARICOM, and it remains the only member state to have maintained a net positive trade balance with the Community consistently since the inception of CARICOM in 1973,” he noted.
CARICOM’s reliability has extended well beyond trade, he also highlighted.
“Trinidad and Tobago faces some of the highest levels of organised crime in the Caribbean, and regional cooperation through CARICOM security mechanisms, intelligence sharing, and coordinated law-enforcement initiatives has been an essential pillar of the response. Antigua and Barbuda, like other member states, has consistently supported that collective security effort.” CARICOM, he added, is a partnership rooted in shared history, shared bloodlines, shared struggle for independence and a shared determination that small states are stronger when they act together.
He also took exception to what he called her unsubstantiated assertion that its leaders have “bad-mouthed” the US. No evidence has been offered because none exists,” he stated, noting that Antigua and Barbuda in fact maintains a record of close collaboration with the US. “Respectful dialogue with international partners is not subservience; nor is regional consultation disloyalty. Antigua and Barbuda will continue to engage the United States responsibly and transparently in full cooperation, while remaining fully committed to CARICOM and to the dignity, sovereignty, and mutual respect that define Caribbean integration.”
That balanced approach has served our region well for decades. It should not now be diminished by rhetoric that divides where facts demonstrate the value of interdependence,” his statement concluded.