St Kitts and Nevis: Minister Denzil Douglas visits India to enhance bilateral relations

St Kitts and Nevis: Dr. Denzil Douglas, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of St Kitts and Nevis officially arrived in India in order to strengthen ties with the country. He arrived on 4th August at the Indira Gandhi national airport, where he was greeted by Additional Secretary Latin America and Caribbean, Ministry of External Affairs of India, G. V. Srinivas.

This visit by Minister Denzil Douglas marks as the beginning of enhanced ties between the countries as it is the very first foreign ministerial visit from St Kitts and Nevis to India.

The Minister Denzil Douglas is all set to meet different political authorities in India to establish better connections in the country. Reportedly, the minister will stay in the country for 6 days during which he will attend several programmes and meetings.

The minister on Monday will attend a programme in Delhi, following this, the next day he will meet S. Jaishankar, the Minister for External Affairs for India at the Hyderabad house. This meeting with Jaishankar will be the highlight of Douglas’s visit as it will discuss future collaborative projects between both the countries.

Then on the following days Minister Douglas will visit some of the key institutions of India until 9th August when he will finally depart back to St Kitts and Nevis. Notably, several Indian ministers and parliamentary members extended their welcome to Saint Kitts and Nevis’, Denzil Douglas. Some of them even took to social media to express a warm welcome to the minister.

Randhir Jaiswal, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs for India extended his warm welcome to Minister Douglas highlighting his visit as a means to strengthen the diplomatic ties between the two nations.

“Warm welcome to Foreign Minister Denzil Douglas of St. Kitts and Nevis as he arrives in New Delhi on the first ever foreign ministerial visit from the island nation to India. This visit will open new chapters of cooperation and further enhance our bilateral ties.” Jaiswal noted in his twitter post.

It is to be noted that both the countries hold strong ties as India helped the island nation, while the whole world was struggling with the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative by the Indian government was a step to establish relationships with the small island nation countries. The Indian government apart from St Kitts and Nevis also sent vaccines to other Caribbean nations including Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica and, by cutting the queue of 92 other countries which were seeking vaccines.

Denzil Douglas’s arrival is a historic visit, and both countries are hopeful about the outcomes. The cooperation is expected to strengthen bilateral relations and open up fresh opportunities for collaboration, benefitting both St Kitts and Nevis and India.