00:00Our Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Brown, declared before Parliament that
00:04Antigua and Barbuda will not use its military assets for any country as they support the
00:09region being considered a son of peace.
00:12We all know that the U.S. has decided that they will have discussions, they will have
00:16a military team travel to the Caribbean to hold discussions with Grenada and Antigua
00:23and Barbuda.
00:24We know for sure, based on information coming out of Grenada, that the discussions were
00:30about hosting certain military assets.
00:33Now, I wasn't party to those discussions, but that's the information coming out of Grenada,
00:38so I can't speak to the veracity of that information.
00:42What I can say is that I made a public statement on behalf of the government people of Antigua
00:48and Barbuda to the effect, and this was made prior to them coming here.
00:54But Antigua and Barbuda will not host any military assets or assets for any foreign country.
01:03Now, the point is, having made that definitive statement, asking the question became redundant.
01:14So there is nothing irresponsible about what I would have said.
01:17So I don't know what the mischief you're trying to sell today, other than I made an unequivocal
01:24statement as to our position as a small, vulnerable country.
01:27And despite our vulnerability, we stand on certain principles, and on that particular
01:32principle about aggression and being involved in any conflict with any other country or facilitating
01:38any other conflict, especially in this hemisphere that we promote and support as a zone of peace,
01:46we said an unequivocal no.
01:51The Prime Minister also said that they understand the need to combat the entry of narcotics to the
01:54expo, that they have always maintained friendly relations with all countries.
01:59We understand the need to continue to have very good relations with them.
02:02Our team came with about 16 military officials.
02:05We met them.
02:06We held very good discussions.
02:09When it comes to military cooperation, we have been collaborating and cooperating for the United
02:13States for decades.
02:15In fact, if anything, the cooperation has strengthened all of my administration because we understand
02:20the need to deal with narcotics and other ills that are happening within the region that's
02:27contributing to crime and violence.
02:29So we are not opposed to the United States position in terms of dealing with the issue of the narcotics
02:34trade and to stop fentanyl and so on, you know, to be imported into the United States.
02:41But again, we have always maintained that we are friends of all, the enemies of none,
02:45that we are too small to have enemies.
02:48And we made it abundantly clear what our position is.
Comments