ST JOHN’S, Antigua – Larry Palmer is the new United States Ambassador to Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Speaking to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ambassador Palmer said, “I am honoured to have been nominated to represent the United States in this important region. These nations play an important role both bilaterally and in multilateral organisations like the Organisation of American States and the United Nations.”
Ambassador Palmer recognizes that “the global economic downturn has hit the region particularly hard,” and further said, “I will build on prior work and lead American efforts to promote economic prosperity, trade, and entrepreneurship in the region.”
According to a release from the US Embassy, he is committed to furthering the success of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), which he said “is vitally important to providing for the safety and security of the United States by ensuring that Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean can combat transnational organised crime and avoid the violence and instability seen elsewhere in the hemisphere.”
Palmer is a career member of the senior foreign service. He was formerly US ambassador to Honduras and also served as president and CEO of the Inter-American Foundation, an independent agency that provides grants to Latin American communities to foster economic development. In addition, he has served in Uruguay, Paraguay, South Korea, Sierra Leone and the Dominican Republic, and was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia.
A native of Augusta, Georgia, Palmer earned a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University, a Master of Education in African History at Texas Southern University, and a Doctorate of Higher Education Administration and African Studies from Indiana University in Bloomington.
