As preparations for the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) enter a critical phase, Antigua and Barbuda has stepped up high-level diplomatic engagement with the United Kingdom, holding a productive working meeting between top foreign policy officials from both island nations this week in London.
Leading the Antigua and Barbuda delegation was E.P. Chet Greene, the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration, who met face-to-face with Chris Elmore, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The gathering forms a core part of Greene’s ongoing London consultation schedule leading up to the upcoming Commonwealth summit scheduled for November. Also in attendance for the discussions were Her Excellency Karen-Mae Hill, Antigua and Barbuda’s High Commissioner to the UK and official Focal Point for 2026 CHOGM, and Caleb Gardiner, Third Secretary at the Antigua and Barbuda High Commission in London.
During the talks, Minister Greene emphasized the critical value of robust bilateral and multilateral partnerships as Antigua and Barbuda makes final arrangements to host the entire 56-member Commonwealth bloc. He noted that the 2026 CHOGM represents a landmark opportunity to expand on-the-ground cooperation, unlock new targeted investment, and advance collective shared priorities across all member states of the association. The meeting also served as a key platform to reaffirm the deep, long-standing diplomatic and people-to-people ties that have bound Antigua and Barbuda and the UK for decades, with both sides exploring new avenues for sustained collaboration within the Commonwealth framework.
High Commissioner Hill led specific portions of the discussion focused on UK engagement and coordinated support for Antigua and Barbuda’s core policy priorities for the 2026 summit. Scheduled to be hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, CHOGM 2026 will carry the official theme “Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth”, a framing that aligns directly with the host nation’s goals of forging deeper cross-bloc collaboration and delivering tangible, impactful results that benefit all Commonwealth member states.