Grenada has unfortunately become a victim of a foreign policy shift by the new government in Australia, which has begun withdrawal of aid commitments to the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. In a dramatic turn of events, Australia has announced that it will phase out all aid programmes to those regions. Australia, under the previous Kevin Rudd administration, had promised AUS $5.1 million dollars as part of the funding for the rebuilding of the new Grenada parliament. At the time, Australia had successfully courted Caribbean and African nations to help it secure a prized seat on the United Nations Security Council. In Opposition, the current government in Australia was strongly critical of the way aid was pledged to assist the campaign. In the case of Grenada, the new policy position of the Australian government means that it is reneging on the signed agreement for aid to help with the reconstruction of our new parliament. This is extremely difficult news, coming at a time when the project is weeks away from starting; and after our government had done all the due diligence on the matter to ensure that it had gotten to this stage. The United Arab Emirates is keeping its promise to provide the USD $5 Million that will also help to fund the project. That aid package was successfully negotiated last year by Foreign Affairs Minister Nickolas Steele. The government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is confident that it will be able to negotiate for additional funding to replace the shortfall that will be realized with the Australian government’s decision. Our government has already begun exploring with other friendly governments the possibility of the needed additional funding. Government remains completely committed to building a new home for this country’s parliament. It is a commitment that has transcended Grenada’s governments. Source: gov.gd