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By Tahna Weston
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Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene says the government will release the full budget for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), including contributions from overseas partners, before the event opens in Antigua and Barbuda on 1 November.
The country is hosting the meeting from 1 to 4 November, with more than 5,000 delegates expected to attend.
Speaking on Observer Radio’s Voice of the People, Greene said the original budget did not account for contributions subsequently pledged by other governments and entities, including India and Australia. He said the figures would be presented together to give the public a clearer picture of costs and funding.
“The programme, since the budget presentation, has morphed. And so, I would not want to quote a figure to you today and then tomorrow I tell you something different,” he said.
“So, the intention of the task force, before CHOGM happens, is to make known to the public these figures, the global budget, the contributions to [the] budget and the like.”
Greene said spending would be guided by the government’s agreement with the Commonwealth Secretariat, although he did not provide details of its terms.
“We are not going overboard with spending. We are spending as per that agreement,” he said. “We’re going to be very frugal in terms of how we treat the national resources and stick to the agreement in terms of our obligations.”
Responding to criticism that the meeting is being held at a time of higher taxes and fuel prices, Greene said Antigua and Barbuda had been selected as host before developments in the Strait of Hormuz and the recent fuel price increase.
He argued that cancelling an event of this scale would damage the country’s international standing and deprive local businesses of potential earnings.
“And so, the taxi drivers, the hotel operators, the Airbnb operators, the hotel plants, all of that whole network of Antiguan businesses that are now lined up to make some money during CHOGM, they would not take kindly to any notion that this is a bad investment or not a timely investment,” Greene said.
Asked about recovering the cost of hosting, Greene argued that staging CHOGM would cost less than marketing Antigua and Barbuda individually across the 56 Commonwealth nations.
He also said Antigua and Barbuda would be the smallest country to have hosted the meeting.