The Commonwealth of Dominica’s new embassy opened on January 21, 2020 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The Caribbean nation’s embassy is the first in the Middle East and will be followed by a consulate general in Dubai.
Dominca’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit attended the event and iterated the importance of enhancing Dominica’s diplomatic representation in the UAE and strengthening the ties between the two countries.
The need for the embassy was credited to the island’s Citizenship by Investment Programme, which lets vetted individuals gain citizenship through financial investment in the country, provided that they successfully pass the due diligence checks. Many of the country’s citizens come from the region, especially the UAE.
“Thanks to the Citizenship by Investment, Dominica already has a small but dynamic population, resident in the UAE,” said the Prime Minister.
PM Skerrit was accompanied by His Excellency Hubert Charles, Dominica’s Ambassador to the UAE who was formerly the island’s Ambassador to the United States of America and the Permanent Representative of Dominica at the Organisation of American States.
Other guests included Saeed Abdullah Al Qamzi, Director of the Visits Affairs Department at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and Suhail Al Mazroui, UAE’s Minister of Energy and Industry, who cut the ribbon in the opening ceremony.
Premier Skerrit praised the UAE’s role in assisting the Caribbean nation’s projects that contribute to sustainable development, often through the CBI Programme.
The highly reputable CBI Programme has been running since 1993 in Dominica. The Programme allows investors full legal citizenship for themselves and the ability to pass the status on to future generations.
Other benefits of CBI include visa-free and visa-on-arrival access to over 140 countries and territories, no need to renounce one’s current citizenship, provided that second citizenship is allowed by the other country, and no physical residency requirements.
