 ?? |
| Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Adriel Brathwaite, is pictured in talks with US Charg?? d’Affaires, Christopher Sandrolini. (A. Miller/BGIS) |
Barbados’ efforts to put a serious dent in the narcotics trade, detect money laundering and other financial crimes should be significantly enhanced with the allocation of US $56,000 under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).
Christopher Sandrolini, the newly appointed US Charg?? d’Affaires, announced recently that the United States and the Barbados government would soon be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concerning the execution of the Secure Seas Programme.
He made this disclosure when he paid a courtesy call on the Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Adriel Brathwaite, today at his Wildey, St. Michael headquarters.
The Minister admitted that the issue of crime and security, gangs and other illegal activities were of concern to him not only in relation to Barbados but also across the Eastern Caribbean. He noted that it was his hope that the CBSI would prove successful in its bid to reduce illicit trafficking throughout the region as it was paramount to focus on interception before drugs reached the region.
The Charg?? d’Affaires concurred and stated that his administration was determined to assist the region in whatever way it could, especially since the majority of guns originated from the United States.????????????????
The agenda for US/Caribbean security cooperation would have been advanced by the visit to Barbados by the US Secretary of Defence, Robert Gates, who met with Regional Security System member countries last year, April 7. During that meeting, Mr. Gates announced the amount of US$30 million pledged by President Obama to the CBSI had been increased to US$45 million.