Antigua designates land for US embassy

CMC – The government of Antigua and Barbuda has designated a plot of land for use by the government of the United States ahead of an announcement on the two Eastern Caribbean countries that will be selected for an embassy.

The US State Department recently revealed that the Biden administration was considering the establishment of two embassies in the subregion, and while no declaration has yet been made, it is widely expected that Antigua will be chosen as one of the sites, as one of the countries with the largest populations.

Speaking during the recent post-Cabinet, the Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office Lionel Hurst, said that both the administration of Prime Minister Gaston Browne and the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP)  are eagerly anticipating the US government’s decision.

“We have established an ‘Embassy Row’ of sorts on Marble Hill. The Chinese have built an embassy there [and] the Indians have asked us to set aside an acre of land on which they will build a residence and very likely some offices.”

“The Dominican Republic has also been granted a piece of land there for the purpose of constructing an embassy at some point in the future. We believe that the United States may wish to do that as well.”

“So, we have set aside a piece of land for the United States and it may wish to build, or it may wish to do as some other embassies here have done, which is to rent a space that is adequate, that could indeed meet all the requirements of a US embassy abroad”, Hurst explained.

Residents in Antigua and Barbuda previously has access to a US embassy here for a number of years in the late 1990s, but have – for decades since – been forced to travel to the US Embassy in Bridgetown, Barbados for visa processing services.

Countries including Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent & the Grenadines are also served by that Embassy.

The Antigua and Barbuda government was hoping that the announcement on the selected countries would have come on Wednesday evening during a reception hosted by the US Embassy on the prestigious Jumby Bay Island to celebrate 247 years of independence.

“We were disappointed. We thought that the US ambassador would indeed announce which two Caribbean countries are going to receive new consulates of the United States, that would enable those seeking visas to have the visas issued here in Antigua, but that announcement was not forthcoming [and] we’ll have to wait just a little while longer it appears”, Hurst said.

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