Being a Head of Government or a Foreign Minister is a thankless task.
Although normally advised by a small number of able civil servants and Ambassadors, the pressure that senior politicians personally experience can be acute, particularly when they have to make choices affecting national security or a country’s international relations.
For small states such as those in the Caribbean, such decisions require a high degree of subtlety if the region’s diverse development, trade, investment and security interests are to remain balanced and driven by national interests.
Despite the positive and important nature of the region’s longstanding and close functional ties with the US, the region’s political and diplomatic skills are likely to be exhaustively tested as the region seeks to manage its future relationship with both Washington and Beijing.
