Against a backdrop of rapidly evolving, border-defying security risks across the Western Hemisphere, Antigua and Barbuda has issued a urgent call for deepened collaborative action among all nations of the Americas, arguing that coordinated regional partnership is the only effective response to modern security challenges that no single country can address alone. The appeal came from Foreign Affairs Minister E.P. Chet Greene, who represented the twin-island nation at the 17th Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas, held this year in Cusco, Peru. The high-level gathering brings together defense and security leaders from across the region to assess strategies for bolstering collective stability and addressing shared threats.
In his address to fellow delegates, Greene framed the conference as a critical platform for hemispheric nations to strengthen open dialogue, forge durable cross-border partnerships, and design aligned, coordinated frameworks to tackle the security concerns that touch every country in the region. He emphasized that regardless of vast differences in geography, population size, and military capabilities, all nations share three non-negotiable core obligations: protecting their citizens, upholding foundational democratic principles, and preserving regional and domestic peace.
Greene pointed out that the global security landscape has shifted dramatically in recent decades, with contemporary threats expanding far beyond the traditional military conflicts that once defined national defense agendas. Today, interconnected threats including transnational organized crime, cyberattacks and cyber-enabled criminal activity, illicit cross-border financial networks, and coordinated efforts to undermine democratic institutions have created a complex risk landscape that demands equally interconnected, coordinated responses.
“The security challenges confronting the Americas no longer fit neatly within national borders or traditional definitions of defence,” Greene told attendees. “Only through intentional, sustained regional cooperation can we effectively mitigate these risks and protect our populations.”
Speaking from the unique perspective of a Small Island Developing State (SIDS), Greene shared Antigua and Barbuda’s core position that long-term security and sustainable development are inextricably linked. For small island nations like his, national prosperity depends entirely on four key pillars: secure open maritime corridors for trade and transportation, reliable cross-border air travel links, resilient digital infrastructure that can withstand disruption, and robust, trusting partnerships with neighboring countries. Any disruption to these systems, he warned, generates ripple effects that spread far beyond the borders of the affected nation, destabilizing entire regions.
Greene went on to highlight the ongoing, devastating impact of transnational organized crime on the Caribbean region specifically. Criminal networks, he explained, routinely exploit the Caribbean’s vast expanses of maritime territory to traffic narcotics, illegal firearms, human beings, and illicitly gained financial assets. These criminal activities do not merely generate violence; they erode the foundations of public institutions, undermine the rule of law, and threaten years of progress in economic and social development across the entire Caribbean basin.
While Greene acknowledged that the Caribbean has not faced large-scale terrorist attacks on the scale seen in other regions of the world, he urged leaders against complacency. Governments across the hemisphere, he stressed, must maintain constant vigilance against emerging, fast-evolving risks, including violent extremism, cyber-facilitated radicalization, unregulated illicit financial activity, and the misuse of emerging digital technologies for criminal purposes.
In closing, Greene reiterated that no nation—no matter how large its military budget, how advanced its defense capabilities, or how extensive its resources—can successfully confront the full scope of 21st-century security challenges in isolation. Stronger cross-border partnerships, sustained collaborative policy, and coordinated collective action, he concluded, remain the only path to upholding lasting peace, security, and stability for all nations across the Americas.