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ST. JOHN’S, ANTIGUA — APRIL 25, 2025 — In what political observers are calling a stunning act of disengagement and diplomatic misfire, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew of St. Kitts and Nevis was the only head of government from a Caribbean CBI-participating country glaringly absent from the high-stakes 2025 Caribbean Investment Summit (CIS25) in Antigua and Barbuda.
While Prime Ministers Gaston Browne (Antigua & Barbuda), Roosevelt Skerrit (Dominica), Philip J. Pierre (St. Lucia), and Dickon Mitchell (Grenada) stood shoulder to shoulder in a show of unity, collaboration, and commitment to integrity in Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programs, PM Drew was nowhere to be found—leaving many to wonder whether St. Kitts and Nevis is isolating itself at a time when regional trust and coordination are more critical than ever.
In a sharply worded social media post following the summit’s panel discussion, Grenada’s PM Dickon Mitchell wrote:
“At today’s panel discussion during the 2025 Caribbean Investment Summit (CIS25), I had the honour of joining my fellow colleagues… and Attorney General Hon. Garth Wilkin (St. Kitts and Nevis) for a high-level conversation on ‘Integrity and Stability in Regional Investment Migration.’”
While Attorney General Wilkin sat in for St. Kitts and Nevis, the Prime Minister’s absence was loud—especially considering that under Drew’s watch, the SKN CBI Programme has suffered massive global credibility hits and a devastating 50% drop in revenue.
A Program in Crisis, and a PM Missing in Action
The Prime Minister’s no-show comes on the heels of widespread criticism over reckless policy shifts introduced in 2023, the infamous appointment of controversial businessman Philippe Martinez as the country’s sole CBI benefactor, and a series of scandals that have rocked the once world-leading programme. Analysts say these moves shattered investor confidence and triggered a historic plunge in application volume.
With such a track record, PM Drew’s absence from the region’s most important summit on investment migration is being viewed as a deliberate snub—one that raises eyebrows not only among regional leaders but also among global stakeholders who are already skeptical about the SKN programme’s stability and transparency.
The Questions Mount
- Why would the leader of the birthplace of CBI opt out of a forum focused on saving and stabilizing it?
- Was PM Drew’s absence a silent protest or a sign of internal disarray?
- Is St. Kitts and Nevis now an outlier in the regional CBI reform agenda?
The silence from Government Headquarters in Basseterre is deafening. There has been no official explanation from the Office of the Prime Minister as to why Drew chose not to attend, especially when his presence could have helped repair the country’s battered image and reassure partners of its commitment to regional standards.
What’s at Stake?
The 2025 CIS summit placed a spotlight on:
- Unified due diligence measures
- Transparent marketing
- Regulatory adaptation
- Policy harmonisation
- Rebuilding global confidence
These are the exact areas where St. Kitts and Nevis has faltered over the last two years.
Observers now say that PM Drew’s absence may have dealt another blow to the reputation of the SKN CBI Programme, risking further alienation and economic fallout.
As the other Caribbean leaders reaffirmed their collective responsibility to preserve the region’s CBI credibility, St. Kitts and Nevis—under Drew’s leadership—was represented not by its leader, but by a legal proxy. For a nation once hailed as the gold standard in investment migration, this is a dramatic and worrying fall from grace.
The question now is:
Can St. Kitts and Nevis reclaim its CBI leadership role—or has the Drew administration officially forfeited it?
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