THE GEOGRAPHY (Foreign Office UK)
Area: 442 sq km (Antigua 281 sq km;
Barbuda 161 sq km)
Population: 75,000 (Census 2001
Estimates) including about 1,200
Montserratians living in Antigua.
Barbuda's population of 1,400 live
mostly in or near the town of
Codrington. Population growth rate:
0.74% (2001 estimate).
Capital City: St John's City, with an
estimated population (2001) of 24,000.
This is the main commercial centre of
Antigua and has the largest harbour,
capable of berthing five ships.
People: Most Antiguans are of African
lineage, descendants of slaves brought
to the island centuries ago to labour in
the sugarcane fields. About 10 per cent
of the population consists of hispanic
immigrants, mainly from the Dominican
Republic.
Languages: English
Religion(s): Predominantly Anglican, but
also Moravian, Methodist and Roman
Catholic
Currency: East Caribbean Dollar (EC$)
Political Parties: Antigua Labour Party
(ALP); Barbuda People's Movement
(BPM); First Christian Democratic
Movement (FCDM); National Movement
for Change; Organisation for National
Development; United Progressive Party
(UPP)
Government: A constitutional monarchy
with Westminster-style parliament.
The bicameral legislature comprises a
House of Representatives elected
every five years and a Senate of 17
appointed members. The Antigua
Labour Party (ALP) won the last
general election in March 1999 for the
sixth time in succession taking 12 seats
to the opposition's 4, with 1 held in
Barbuda. Lester Bird succeeded his
father Vere Bird Senior as Prime
Minister at the 1994 elections.
Head of State: Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II
Prime Minister/Premier: The Hon
Lester Bryant Bird
Foreign Minister: The Hon Lester
Bryant Bird
Membership of international
groups/organisations: ACP, Caricom,
CDB, Commonwealth, ECLAC, FAO,
G77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFAD,
IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMG, IMO, Intelsat
(nonsignatory user), Interpol, IOC, ITU,
NAM (observer), OAS OECS, OPANAL,
UN UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WCL,
WFTU, WHO, WMO, WTrO
GEOGRAPHY
The State comprises Antigua, the
largest of the Leeward Islands, its
sister island of Barbuda (30 miles
away) and uninhabited Redonda. These
islands are situated between the
Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean,
east-southeast of Puerto Rico. There
are a total of 153 kms of coastline.
Antigua is mainly coral-based, but is of
volcanic origin in the south. Barbuda is
a flat coral island. The climate is
tropical, with little variation between
the seasons. Antigua and Barbuda lies
within the hurricane belt.
THE HISTORY (Foreign Office UK)
The first settlements on Antigua date
from about 2400 BC, and were
composed of the Siboney (an Arawak
word meaning 'stone-people'),
peripatetic Meso-Indians whose shell
and stone tools have been found at
dozens of sites around the island.
Antigua was later settled by the
pastoral, agricultural Arawaks (35-1100
AD), who were then displaced by the
Caribs, an aggressive people who
ranged all over the Caribbean. The
earliest European contact with the
island was made by Christopher
Columbus during his second Caribbean
voyage (1493), who sighted the island in
passing and named it after Santa Maria
la Antigua, the miracle-working saint
of Seville. European settlement,
however, did not occur for over a
century, largely because of Antigua's
dearth of fresh water and abundance
of determined Carib resistance. Finally,
in 1632, a group of Englishmen from St.
Kitts established a successful
settlement. Sir Christopher Codrington
arrived in Antigua in 1684. He had come
to Antigua to find out if the island
would support the sort of large-scale
sugar cultivation that already
flourished elsewhere in the Caribbean.
His initial efforts proved to be quite
successful, and over the next fifty
years sugar cultivation on Antigua
exploded.By the middle of the 18th
century there were more than 150
cane-processing windmills on the
island, each the focal point of a sizeable
plantation.
By the end of the eighteenth century
Antigua had become an important
strategic port as well as a commercial
colony. Known as the 'gateway to the
Caribbean', it was situated in a position
that offered control over the major
sailing routes to and from the region's
rich island colonies. Horatio Nelson
arrived in 1784 at the head of the
Squadron of the Leeward Islands to
develop the British naval facilities at
English Harbour and to enforce
stringent commercial shipping laws. It
was during King William IV's reign, in
1834, that Britain abolished slavery in
its empire. Antigua instituted immediate
full emancipation rather than a
four-year 'apprenticeship' as in the
other British Caribbean colonies.
Emancipation actually improved the
island's economy, but the sugar
industry of the British islands was
already beginning to wane. Until the
development of tourism in the past few
decades, Antiguans struggled for
prosperity. The rise of a strong labour
movement in the 1940s, under the
leadership of V.C. Bird, provided the
impetus for independence. In 1967, with
Barbuda and the tiny island of Redonda
as dependencies, Antigua became an
associated state of the Commonwealth,
and in 1981 it became independent as a
unitary state, despite a strong
campaign for independence by the
inhabitants of Barbuda. V.C. Bird is now
deceased; his son, the Hon. Lester B.
Bird, was elected to succeed him as
Prime Minister in l994.
BBC News Online country timeline
POLITICS
Recent Political Developments
The Antigua Labour Party (ALP) won
the last general election in March 1999
for the sixth time in succession taking
12 seats to the opposition's 4, with 1
held in Barbuda. Lester Bird succeeded
his father Vere Bird Senior as Prime
Minister at the 1994 election. Baldwin
Spencer was re-elected as leader of
the opposition United People's Party in
November.
The Government, and PM Lester Bird
in particular, has faced intense
criticism within Antigua. The
Commission of Inquiry set up to
investigate the misuse of the Medical
Benefits Scheme (MBS) handed over
its report on 31 July 2002. PM Bird has
agreed to implement the majority of its
33 recommendations, except those
which would have immediate severe
financial implications (conversion of the
MBS into a national health insurance
scheme, settlement of the outstanding
amount owed to the MBS with 50% paid
immediately in cash). The Commission
also recommended that the Director of
Public Prosecutions should further
investigate named individuals to
establish whether criminal charges
should be brought against them. This
investigation is now proceeding with
the assistance of Scotland Yard. Some
arrests have been made.
A review of the operational
arrangements between Antigua and
Barbuda was conducted by a
Commonwealth Review Team in July
2000. The report, published in
November 2000, dismissed the
possibility of a federal arrangement
between the two islands but
recommended the establishment of a
Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) to
oversee the development of Barbuda
within the existing constitutional
arrangements. Other recommended
changes included the designation of
Barbuda as a 'port of entry' and the
transfer of responsibility for water
and electricity on the island to the
Barbuda Council. Relationships between
the two islands are not always
harmonious.
Elections
Constitutionally, the next elections must
take place before March 2004. PM
Lester Bird has recently announced
that he will stand for a third term and
elections are likely to take place in late
2003.
THE ECONOMY (Foreign Office UK)
Basic Economic Facts
GDP: US$750 million (2002 estimate)
GDP per head: US$11,000 (2002
estimate)
Annual growth: 3% (2002 estimate)
Inflation: 0.1% (consumer prices –
2000 estimate)
Major industries: Tourism,
construction, light manufacturing,
offshore financial sector
Major Trading Partners: Export
partners: OECS – 26%; Barbados -
15%; Guyana – 4%; Trinidad and Tobago
– 2%; USA – 0.3%. Import partners:
USA – 27%; United Kingdom – 26%;
Canada – 4%; OECS – 3%
Agricultural products: Cotton, fruits,
vegetables, bananas, coconuts,
cucumbers, mangoes, sugar cane,
livestock.
Antigua and Barbuda has had uneven
economic performance for several
years, largely because of recurrent
large fiscal deficits which resulted in a
build-up of arrears and continuing loss
of access to external financing. Real
growth averaged 5% annually in
1996-99 as tourism recovered and
post hurricane reconstruction
flourished, but slowed to 2.5% in 2000
following a weakening of tourism and
as reconstruction wound down. Real
GDP growth in 2001 was an estimated
1,5%. Low inflation, estimated at 0.1 %
for 2001, reflects the exchange rate
peg to the US Dollar. Tourism
continues to be the dominant activity in
the economy (following the demise of
the sugar industry in the 1970s), with
hotels and restaurants employing
around 75% of the workforce. Before
11 September 2001 tourism receipts
constituted almost 70% of total foreign
exchange earnings and 65% of GDP.
The financial position of the
government is weak.
Antigua is a high-cost destination.
However, due to slowdown in the
global economy and the adverse
effects of 11 September, the hotel
industry has been going through a
difficult period. However, advance
bookings for 2003 are strong and
there is every indication of a recovery
in the coming season.
In 1999 the UK and US Governments
decided to impose separate financial
advisories in view of concerns about
deficiencies in the Antiguan money
laundering legislation and the integrity
and independence of their system of
financial regulation. In 2001 these were
lifted following Antigua's efforts to
strengthen its regulatory and
supervisory machinery and improve its
capacity for law enforcement with
regard to financial crimes. Measures
are also underway to improve the
regulation and supervision of the
rapidly expanding credit union and
insurance companies in the domestic
sector.
Agricultural production is mainly
directed to the domestic market and is
constrained by the limited water supply
and labour shortages that reflect the
attraction of higher wages in the
tourism and construction industries.
Small manufacturing outlets produce
goods for export including bedding,
handicrafts and electronic components.
Antigua and Barbuda has appealed to
the World Trade Organization to
adjudicate following a ban by the United
States on the cross-border supply of
gambling and betting services from
Antigua and Barbuda.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Antigua and Barbuda's Relations with
Neighbours
Antigua and Barbuda enjoys close
relations with its neighbours. It is an
active member of Organisation of
Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), and
shares a common currency and
common judiciary with the other six
full members and two associate
members of the Organisation. Antigua
and Barbuda is also a member of the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
which is in the process of establishing
a single market and economy. It
coordinates its foreign policy with the
member states of CARICOM.
Antigua and Barbuda's Relations with
the International Community
Antigua and Barbuda greatly values its
membership of the Commonwealth and
of the United Nations Organisation.
Within the Commonwealth, Antigua and
Barbuda advances the agenda of Small
States in the international community.
ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA'S RELATIONS
WITH THE UK
UK/Antiguan relations are excellent. A
Bilateral Asset Confiscation Agreement
to stem the proceeds of crime was
signed in 1997. A Transfer of Prisoners
Agreement was signed on 23 June
2003. This is not yet in force.
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