Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance M. Drew, speaking with Acting Director of Communications Mrs Karia J. Christopher at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), gathering in St. Martin. Photo: Facebook

Premier the Hon Dr Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) has faced scrutiny for his overseas engagements. He was recently in St. Martin for an OECS meeting. Photo: Government of the Virgin Islands

Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance M. Drew defended overseas travel by saying leaders must represent their nations on multiple fronts. Photo: Government of the Virgin Islands

He was at the time responding directly to concerns raised over travel abuse by political leaders for meetings that can be had via Zoom, as example.

In an interview with Acting Director of Communications Mrs Karia J. Christopher at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), gathering in St. Martin, Dr Drew spoke to  the importance of face-to-face discussions in addressing pressing regional challenges such as climate change, tourism, and economic cooperation.

Dr Drew explained that while digital meetings have their place, they cannot replace the value of direct interactions.

"When you are governing, you're not just governing on the ground; You have to govern within regional organizations, which are very important for the advancement of your country.”

In-person meetings important for tackling issues in need of regional collaboration- Dr Drew

Dr Drew further elaborated on the necessity of in-person participation, particularly in tackling issues that demand regional collaboration.

"For example, the issue of climate change. We need to sit together and deal with that. We speak about tourism—climate change can impact our tourism product negatively. And therefore, how are we going to confront that as a region? BVI by itself cannot do it; no country in the OECS by themselves can do it. So by coming together, we can have a regional approach which can help to resolve the matters for us as individual nations and countries or territories,”’ he expounded. 

Drawing parallels with global leaders, Dr Drew pointed out that international heads of state regularly travel to engage in diplomatic discussions, adumbrating, "The President of the United States, the President of France, the President of China—wherever they are from, you see them travel; Because they have, one, a local responsibility to take care of their people, but they also have to operate within a regional and international atmosphere to make sure that their countries are protected."

Implications for VI

The discussion also touched on the relevance of such meetings for the Virgin Islands (VI), where Premier the Hon Dr Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) has faced scrutiny for his overseas engagements. 

Prime Minister Drew strongly defended the Premier’s participation, stating that leaders must represent their nations on multiple fronts, "That is why it's so important that Premier Wheatley is here—because he's not just the Premier on the ground. He has to also respond to regional organizations and so forth to make sure that the BVI, as I tried to position St. Kitts and Nevis, is well."

His remarks reinforce the argument that the BVI’s presence in regional decision-making is not merely symbolic but essential for its development and integration.