Commander of the US Air Station in Antigua, Major Justin A Mulkey and Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer

Commander of the US Air Station in Antigua, Major Justin A Mulkey met today with Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer.

Prime Minister Spencer welcomed Cmdr. Mulkey and pointed out that although the Commander had been on-island for several months, it was their first meeting.

Cmdr. Mulkey briefed Prime Minister Spencer on many operational aspects of the US Air Station, and gave an updated review of issues in the relations between the US Air Station and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Spencer questioned Commander Mulkey more closely about the US Air Station’s technical operations, and he undertook to mobilize the relevant Government Agencies to resolve any issues, which may arise from time to time.

Prime Minister Spencer noted that there would be an opportunity in 2008 to incorporate improvements in base operations into future base agreements.

The US Air Station in Antigua operates under a Government to Government agreement with the United States and has survived many US Base closures all over the world including the US Naval Facility at the current ABDF Camp Blizzard. Under the agreement, the United States Air Force leases lands from the Government in the vicinity of the V C Bird International Airport.

Also attending the meeting was Ambassador Colin Murdoch, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ms. Ronna Ciarufoli, Manger of CSR, the civilian company under contract to the US Air Force and responsible for many of the operations of the US Air Station.