Brantley's efforts to strengthen global diplomacy expands St Kitts diplomatic footprints

The Island Federation St Kitts and Nevis have expanded its diplomatic footprints regionally and internationally in the last years. The Island nation has successfully developed foreign ties due to the efforts of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mark Brantley to strengthen global diplomacy.

The 49-year-old Caribbean politician is one of the emerging faces of Caribbean politics at the international level.  He is termed as a dedicated politician whose achievements span from the establishment of robust diplomatic ties with foreign nations to the betterment of Nevis, the island he has led as Premier since October 2017.

Last month while giving his inputs on The Appropritation (2019) Bill,2018 in the Parliament Brantley said “It is no meagre exploit that a small country such as ours is punching well above its weight as far as diplomacy is concerned,”

The St Kitts and Nevis diplomat highlighted a number of areas where the twin-island Federation is making progress in expanding its diplomatic footprints at the global stage. Minister Brantley had said that the Government of National Unity has embarked on a journey to repair damaged relationships with countries.

The Federation has signed many diplomatic agreements with countries across the globe and it is efforts of Brantley that in an index of the rankings of passports done by the Henley and Partners Passport Index, ranking all passports of the world according to passport holders and the number of the countries they can travel to visa-free using data collected from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Henley and Partners in October last year put the St Kitts and Nevis passport as 26th in the World and third in the Caribbean, behind Barbados and the Bahamas.

Minister have set a high goal for 2019 as he told the Parliament last year “I am prepared to go on record in this honourable House to say to the House and the people of this country that if God spares life by the first half of next year, the St. Kitts and Nevis passport will be the most powerful passport in all of the Caribbean and Latin America.”

Since taking office in February of 2015, the Government of National Unity has established diplomatic relations with 32 countries, of which 12 of them were established in 2018. These countries include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Sao Tome & Principe, Dominican Republic, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, Gabonese Republic, Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Laos People’s Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Republic of Albania, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kosovo, Republic of Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Maldives, Republic of Mauritius, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Mozambique, Republic of San Marino, Republic of Senegal, Republic of Serbia, Republic of Tajikistan, Republic of Togo, State of Qatar, and Ukraine

Giving a display of his bold character and dedication towards Federation recently Minister Mark Brantley has criticized the European Union (EU) for blacklisting countries as non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. He said the EU’s treatment with Small Island Developing States (SIDS) is “unconscionable behaviour on the part of those who are rich and powerful against those of us who are poor and vulnerable.”

Brantley had said the offshore sector “has added tremendous value to the economy of Nevis” and that the “financial services sector translates into some $14 million per year in direct government revenue in Nevis, but that financial institutions are threatened by blocs such as the EU.