Caribbean PMs Agree to “6 CBI Principles” of: Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts & Nevis,
and St Lucia held a roundtable discussion with US officials led by the Deputy
Assistant Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury on the 25th of February to
discuss the challenges and threats faced by the Caribbean Citizenship by
Investment Programs (CIPs), according to an OECS press release.
Caribbean PMs Agree to “6 CBI Principles
All of the Caribbean states’ Prime Ministers and Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU)
heads were in attendance, alongside other relevant members of their parties, as
they engaged in what was described as a “frank discussion” with a number of US
government officials regarding certain specifics of their CIPs.
The meeting, which took place in St Kitts & Nevis, concluded with the “Caribbean
Five” agreeing to six significant stipulations for their CIPs as proposed by the
Americans:
- Collective agreement on the treatment of denials: Not toprocessapplications from persons whose applications have been denied inanotherCIP jurisdiction by proactively sharing information on denials.
- Interviews: Conduct interviews with applicants, whether virtual or in-person.Additional checks: Each jurisdiction will run checks on each application withthe Financial Intelligence Unit of its respective country.
- Audits: Audit the programs annually or every two years in accordancewithinternationally accepted standards.
- Retrieval of passports: Request law enforcement assistance inretrievingrevoked/recalled passports.
- Treatment of Russians and Belarusians:Suspend processing applicationsfrom Russians and Belarusians. Four jurisdictions have alreadysuspendedapplications, and Grenada, which processes applications fromRussians andBelarusians, with enhanced due diligence, will suspend processing newapplications from Russia and Belarus from the 31st of March, 2023.
The new principles of Caribbean PMs Agree to “6 CBI Principles
The attendees agreed to convene a technical discussion to assess the status of
implementing these new principles within the next four to six months.
Addressing the issue, Antigua & Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne explained
that a key American request had been to stop Russian participation in the programs:
“I believe there is one country processing Russian and Belarusians […] In any case,
we huddled, and there’s a consensus now that we will not process these
applications.”
For most of the last year, Grenada has been alone among Caribbean CIPs to accept
Russian and Belarusian applicants, a controversial decision but one that has seen its
program garner record revenues.
Browne went on to highlight that the agreement to the six proposed principles,
while unanimous among the Caribbean states, was an inevitable outcome
considering the always-present (but rarely uttered) threat of US sanctions: “If we try
to buck them and use the issue of sovereignty, all they have to do is issue a sanction
stopping us from using the banking system, and then we are in trouble.”
The Antiguan PM, who has publicly spoken about the US’ critical stance on
Caribbean CIPs and highlighted the dangers posed to Caribbean CIPs by global
superpowers, emphasizing issues such as de-risking, which could stunt the
economic development of smaller nations, acknowledged that the specter of US
financial sanctions had left the Caribbean states” little choice but to cooperate and
collaborate.”
Washington will put in a good word with Brussels
The joint press release made clear that the Americans recognized that the
Caribbean CIPs provided “a legitimate service and have assisted in the survival of
the participating economies” and, furthermore, that such revenues had been
“invaluable” in making the Eastern Caribbean states more economically resilient in
the face of natural disasters and other external shocks.
The conclave also agreed to acknowledge that the dismantling of the region’s CIPs
would “severely compromise the prosperity and prospects of the countries,
triggering a plethora of negative social consequences domestically and potentially
leading to an upsurge in criminality, among other pathologies.”
read more: St. Kitts and Nevis, and Dominica commence mandatory Interview Process
This culminated in the agreement of both parties affirming their commitment to a
collective fight to safeguard their respective financial systems against threats posed
by illicit actors.
According to the joint statement, the CBI states have requested that the Americans
assist in facilitating a similar agreement on the same six principles also with the EU
and the UK
The joint declaration arguably improves the long-term sustainability of the
Caribbean CIPs, as it sets a tone of cooperation rather than intimidation. While the
changes may have adverse effects on the program, they will alleviate much of the
program-related pressure from the US and – by extension – the OECD and EU.
The Caribbean states also made proposals of their own, requesting further
discussion on the US Government’s risk management framework for the EB-5
Immigrant Investor Program as it relates to processing applications from Russians.
The irony of the US requesting that Caribbean states ban Russians and Belarusians
from their CIPs while the American government continues to process them under its
EB5 program was not lost on Browne: “Many of these Russians and Belarusians we
would have processed have never come here. So, they don’t have any interest in
coming here and going to the US in the first instance, so the risk is less. So, we see
the contradiction.”
