Biography

Sir Ronald Michael Sanders KCMG, KCN

Sir Ronald Sanders is a Consultant and Writer.

In the private sector he has served on the Board of Directors of Financial Institutions, Telecom Companies, Media Companies and a Sustainable Forestry Company in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Barbados, Guyana, and the US Virgin Islands.

In the public sector he has served as the elected Chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force against drug trafficking and money laundering (2003-2004). He also served on the Board of the International Programme for the Development of Communication at UNESCO (1983-1985) and as an elected member of the Executive Board of UNESCO (1985-1987).

His diplomatic career spanned two periods between 1982 to 1987 and 1996 to 2004. He was twice High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for Antigua and Barbuda and Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). He had special responsibilities for negotiations on financial and trade matters in the WTO and with the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He attended Commonwealth and CARICOM Foreign Ministers and Heads of Governments Conferences throughout his diplomatic career.

He served on numerous committees, task forces and advisory boards to formulate and implement policy for the Caribbean and the Commonwealth. He also has experience of dealing with regulatory bodies such as the FCC in the US, and he has led a successful complaint to an arbitration panel of the World Trade Organisation. He has negotiated Tax Information Exchange Agreements and Double Taxation Agreements with Britain, the US and Australia and loan and investment agreements with Britain and China.

His consultancies include work in public affairs for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Foundation for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and UNESCO, as well as private companies where he has negotiated acquisitions and financing and advised on corporate policy and public affairs.

A former Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, he holds a MA in International relations from the University of Sussex, and he is the author of several publications on small states in the international political economy including “Crumbled Small: The Commonwealth Caribbean in the Global Community” (London, 2005). He writes a weekly commentary in leading newspapers throughout the Caribbean and on several Internet News Websites including the BBC.

Sanders is frequently interviewed on Caribbean and Commonwealth matters by the BBC (UK), CANA (Caribbean) the Latin American Advisor (USA) and other international media. He has been invited by the Governments of Canada, the United Kingdom and CARICOM to participate in Think-Tanks and Seminars. He has been a guest lecturer at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, The Royal College of Defence Studies, Bristol University and London Metropolitan University.