Above: Antigua and Barbuda PM Gaston Browne (Photo: ABG)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne is visiting the Middle East this week to court investment in the twin-island country.

The Prime Minister’s schedule this week includes stops in Lebanon, Qatar and Dubai; he is being joined by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Charles Fernandez.

The purpose of the trip is to “raise funds for a number of projects” in the country, including the government’s housing programme, according to a statement from the government.

Middle Eastern investors have increasingly been targeting the Caribbean, most notably Dubai-based Range Developments, which is working on new hotels in both St Kitts and Dominica.

In Antigua, that trend manifested itself over the summer, when a United Arab Emirates-based investors signed a memorandum of agreement for a $120 million hotel project.

Browne also visited Dubai at the end of October.

Browne is returning to the country this weekend.