ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada - The third United States-Caribbean RoundTable on the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) has ended here with delegates discussing the principles geared toward strengthening the governance of the program and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
The Third US-Caribbean RoundTable on the CBI programme was held in Grenada (OECS Photo)Under the CBI programme, foreign investors are granted citizenship of the islands in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of these islands.
A statement issued by the St. Lucia-based Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, said that the meeting brought together representatives from the five OECS countries with CBI programmes and the United States Department of the Treasury.
It described the deliberations as being “productive” adding that the meeting was also attended by delegations from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank led by Governor Timothy N.J. Antoine and the OECS Commission led by its Director General, Dr. Didacus Jules..
Antoine and the US Treasury acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Warren Ryan, co-chaired the Roundtable.
The statement said that this was the third US-Caribbean Roundtable on CBI and the delegations discussed progress made and challenges remaining to address the Six CBI Principles agreed to by Caribbean Heads of Government in February 2023.
The first roundtable was held in St. Kitts-Nevis in February last year with the second taking place in Miami in October last year.
The Principles are geared toward strengthening the governance of the CBI Programmes and mitigating money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The parties at the third US-Caribbean Roundtable acknowledged the concerted regional efforts toward full implementation of the Principles,” the statement sad, noting that Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts-Nevis – the CBI co.
The statement said these Principals are the collective agreement on treatment of denials in not processing applications from persons whose applications have been denied in any of the other five CBI jurisdictions, conduct interviews with applicants as well as run checks on each applicant with the Financial Intelligence Unit of the relevant country.
In addition, the five countries have also agreed to suspend the processing of applications from Russians and Belarusians.
“The CBI countries are assiduously progressing towards fully implementing the remaining two Principles (Audits and Retrieval of Revoked Passports),” the statement said, adding that “these efforts progress in parallel with other regional initiatives outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) of March 2024, now signed by all the CBI countries.
The statement said that the United States delegation welcomed progress by the region in establishing an independent regional regulator, as envisioned in the MOA, to set standards, regulate and supervise the Programmes and, if necessary, take corrective actions.
“The region will soon announce the appointment of an Interim Regulatory Commission, which will be tasked with establishing the regional regulator. The CBI countries remain resolute in collectively enhancing the risk management and mitigation for the Programmes and are appreciative of the ongoing support by the United States Treasury for its efforts,” the statement added.
