In the ceremonial opening of the country’s Parliament on Tuesday, Governor-General Sir Rodney Williams used the annual Throne Speech to shine a stark spotlight on a growing inequity in the global geopolitical landscape: small developing island nations like Antigua and Barbuda are being forced to shoulder crippling economic costs from international conflicts they had no part in starting or shaping.
Sir Rodney outlined how multiple ongoing flashpoints across the globe, from the Russia-Ukraine war to rising tensions between Iran, Israel and the United States, have sent shockwaves through global supply chains and energy markets that hit vulnerable small economies the hardest. “There are two wars being waged by the strongest nations on earth, resulting in deaths in those affected countries and significant burdens being borne by small countries like ours,” he told assembled parliamentarians.
Breaking down the specific pathways of economic spillover, the Throne Speech linked the Russia-Ukraine conflict directly to soaring global fossil fuel prices. Sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, one of the world’s top energy exporters, have cut its global energy sales, creating a supply shortage that has pushed up oil and gas costs worldwide. That impact ripples across every sector of small island economies, from transportation to consumer goods.
Beyond energy markets, escalating tensions involving Iran and Israel have disrupted critical global shipping infrastructure, Sir Rodney noted. When recent strikes by the U.S. and Iran prompted closures to a key Persian Gulf sea lane that carries roughly 20% of the world’s global oil supply, the disruption triggered simultaneous spikes in shipping rates, maritime insurance premiums, and end-consumer costs across every continent.
This pattern, the Antigua and Barbuda government emphasized, is an injustice that repeatedly targets small developing states. “Small states have played no role in starting these conflicts that have generated tough economic choices for the people of Antigua and Barbuda, the Caribbean, and the people of these two large states,” Sir Rodney said.
In addition to highlighting this unfair burden, the speech laid out the government’s long-standing foreign policy priorities, reaffirming its unwavering support for multilateral cooperation and coordinated regional action through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The Governor-General also extended formal praise to Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene, crediting him with deft and skillful navigation of the country’s foreign relations amid a period of unprecedented global geopolitical instability.