Nevis received only 7% of CBI revenues while Federal govt kept 93% or $5billion: Mark Brantley

Mark Brantley- Former Minister of Foreign Affairs St Kitts and Nevis, shared the progress he made during his tenure from 2015 to 2022.

Tuesday, 24th May 2022

Mark Brantley- Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of St Kitts and Nevis, shared the progress he made during his tenure from 2015 to 2022. He said his job was to rebuild the country's hitherto tarnished image regionally and internationally. He said that with his efforts to expand the diplomatic presence of St Kitts and Nevis, the country was able to establish ties with 47 countries, and 32 new visa waiver agreements helped in the meteoric rise of the popularity of St Kitts Nevis. "The popularity of St Kitts and Nevis CBI programme coincided precisely with the dramatic expansion of the network of countries that our passport takes us to without a visa. Put differently, the work of my staff and I ensured the success of our CBI programme,". "You can therefore understand how disturbing it must be for the people of Nevis that I, as one of their elected representatives, would have done so much to guarantee the success of the CBI programme only for Nevis to receive a paltry 7% of the returns while the Federal government kept 93% or some $5 billion for itself," Brantley stated. Brantley stated that during his work as the Foreign Minister, he was tasked with rebuilding relations with old friends and finding new friends for St Kitts and Nevis, "My staff and I navigated the world's capitals to ensure that no hint of scandal diplomatically befell our beloved country,". Brantley stated that during his position as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he negotiated an unprecedented number of scholarships for the young people in countries such as Morocco, Romania, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Chile, Austria, Serbia and India. "We led the fight for Caribbean nationals living in the UK on the Windrush scandal. My staff and I set the goal of negotiating as many visa waiver agreements as possible to ensure that the St Kitts Nevis passport became the most powerful in all of CARICOM," said Brantley. Furthermore, he stated that strengthening the passport of St Kitts and Nevis was so important because the Citizenship by Investment programme is so critical to the economy of St Kitts and Nevis, "The power of our passport gives St Kitts and Nevis a more desirable product than our regional competitors and sets us well apart from the rest,". Former Minister of Foreign emphasized that during his tenure, St Kitts and Nevis managed to build diplomatic relations with 47 additional countries, such as the following:

Belarus
Bolivia
Croatia
Cyprus
Dominican Republic
Kenya, Kosovo
The Maldives, Mauritius
Mongolia, The Gambia
Saudi Arabia, Senegal
Turkmenistan
Brunei Darussalam
Ethiopia, Qatar
Moldova
Lao PDR
Armenia
Mozambique Gabon
Eswatini formerly Swaziland
Tajikistan
Kryzk Republic
San Marino
Togo
São Tomé and Principe
Bahrain
Serbia
Rwanda
Palestine
North Macedonia
Bosnia Herzegovina
Cambodia
Honduras
Djibouti
Jordan
Sri Lanka
Cameroon
Egypt
Burkina Faso
Zimbabwe
Uzbekistan
Sudan
Tuvalu
Uganda

"Even more remarkable is that we added some 32 countries where our citizens can travel visa-free and an additional two where our diplomats and officials can travel visa-free," stated Brantley. He stated that the upcoming general election is all about who will be willing to stand by, with and for the people of Nevis, to ensure that they are respected and that they get their fair share and the whole fruits of citizenship.