On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, The Honourable Michael Joseph, Antigua and Barbuda’s Minister of Health, Wellness, Environment and Civil Service Affairs, officially received a high-level official delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a closed-door bilateral consultation session, held immediately following the conclusion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) hosted earlier that week on the Caribbean island nation. The Saudi visiting team was led by Dr. Hanan Hassan Balkhy, the Kingdom’s official nominee for the upcoming World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General election. Accompanying Dr. Balkhy for the bilateral exchange were three senior Saudi health sector officials: Mr. Rakan Bin Dohaish, senior advisor to the Saudi Minister of Health, Mr. Abdulwahed Alhamili, International Cooperation Officer stationed at the Saudi Ministry of Health, and Mr. Dante Emmanuel, personal assistant and senior policy advisor to Dr. Balkhy. The dialogue between the two sides is understood to cover cross-border public health collaboration, shared priorities for global health system strengthening, and mutual alignment on WHO governance priorities ahead of the upcoming leadership election.