By Caribbean News Global 
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – On May 31, 2024, the office of the spokesperson Matthew Miller US Department of State issued readouts of Deputy Secretary Richard R. Verma meetings with Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Jamaican Foreign Minister Johnson Smith.
Antigua and Barbuda
The below is attributable to spokesperson Miller
“Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma met with Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne on the margins of the UN Conference on Small Island Developing States in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda on Wednesday May, 29, 2024.
Deputy Secretary Verma congratulated Antigua and Barbuda on a successful conference and highlighted our continued collaboration on climate adaptation and accelerating the clean energy transition through the US-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis 2030.
“The Deputy Secretary and Prime Minister also discussed security cooperation through the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, including assistance to address illicit trafficking and to strengthen citizen security.”
Jamaica
The below is attributable to spokesperson Miller
“Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma met with Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith on the margins of the Conference on Small Island Developing States in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda on Wednesday, May, 29.
“Deputy Secretary Verma thanked Foreign Minister Johnson Smith for Jamaica’s key role in contributing personnel and coordinating the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) contribution to the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti.
“Deputy Secretary Verma also underscored the US commitment to support Jamaica in reducing violence in the Caribbean and decreasing the illegal trafficking of arms under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI). They also discussed collaboration on other shared priorities, and noted the upcoming launch of a Coalition for Climate Entrepreneurship Hub in Kingston.”
Antigua and Barbuda – Cuba
Meanwhile, during his official visit to Antigua and Barbuda, Cuban VP Salvador Valdés Mesa met with Gaston Alphonso Browne, Prime Minister.
During the meeting, in which Valdés Mesa presented his host with a letter of invitation to visit Cuba and thanked him for Antigua and Barbuda’s continued opposition to the US blockade, both leaders talked about the current state of bilateral relations and agreed to keep strengthening the thirty-year-old historic ties of friendship, solidarity and cooperation between the two countries.
On his end, Browne expressed his gratitude to Cuba for participating in the IV Conference of Small Island Developing States, as well as for the cooperation given to Antigua and Barbuda in terms of health care and human resource training.
