Eastern Caribbean

The leaders of Antigua and Barbuda and Saint Lucia have met with a European Union commissioner to discuss the EU's planned phase-out of citizenship-by-investment programmes, a key source of revenue for several Eastern Caribbean states. The talks address how the phase-out would be implemented and what it would mean for the two island economies that rely heavily on investor immigration income.

Japan’s growing engagement with the Eastern Caribbean is drawing attention as Tokyo weighs deeper strategic ties in a region traditionally dominated by the United States and, increasingly, China. Commentators are examining what Japan’s diplomacy in the small island states of the Caribbean means for regional influence, development cooperation and great-power competition.