On Wednesday, Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne announced plans to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in areas such as education and healthcare.
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A Summit between the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the Middle Eastern country will be held in the Saudi Arabian capital. According to statements made by Browne and reported by a local media, before leaving for Riyadh, he expressed his hope that the meeting would be productive and successful, with beneficial results.
Some of the topics to be discussed are the deepening of the regional bloc's relations with the Arab nation to support the sustainability of the Community's development objectives through the coordinated use of financial, technical and human resources.
Other topics of interest include World Expo 2030, strengthening relations between Caricom and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, agriculture and food security, transportation, renewable energy and climate change, finance, tourism, investment, education and health.
The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said he will seek to establish collaboration with Saudi Arabia in several areas, including the development of public health infrastructures, improvement of public health delivery systems, and improvement of basic education and technical and vocational training.
In addition, he noted that his team will submit an application for a scholarship program for Antiguan students to pursue university studies in the Arab nation, which will facilitate knowledge exchange and cultural understanding.
"We also believe we can develop collaborative initiatives and academic research through faculty exchanges and the development of educational infrastructures," he said.
"In the area of healthcare, we believe we can cooperate in the development of healthcare infrastructures, including the construction and improvement of clinics, laboratories and treatment facilities, in addition to enhancing medical training opportunities," he said.
In addition, Browne is expected to seek new collaborations in the areas of technologies for the early detection and treatment of non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular conditions.