24 Facts About Owen Arthur

Owen Arthur is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date.

Owen Arthur served as Leader of the Opposition from 1 August 1993 to 6 September 1994 and from 23 October 2010 to 21 February 2013.

Owen Arthur was described by CARICOM as the chief architect of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.

Owen Arthur argued in favour of making the Caribbean Court of Justice the final court of appeal for countries of the Caribbean, and he advocated for the University of the West Indies regional airline LIAT, and projection of resistance against infringement on sovereignty by large nations.

Owen Arthur studied at All Saints Boys' School, Coleridge and Parry Boys' School, and Harrison College.

Owen Arthur was appointed to the Senate of Barbados in 1983, and won a by-election to the House of Assembly in 1984 for the constituency of Saint Peter.

Owen Arthur served concurrently as a part-time lecturer in management at UWI Cave Hill until he was chosen to be the leader of the Barbados Labour Party in 1993, making him the parliamentary Leader of the Opposition.

Owen Arthur acted as Minister of National Security, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Information, and appointed four female ministers, including all three female BLP MPs.

In 1995, Owen Arthur devised the formation of a parliamentary law reform commission led by Henry Forde to advise on constitutional and institutional reform of Barbados Government.

Owen Arthur planned to hold a national referendum on this proposition in 2005.

Closer to home, Owen Arthur took genuine interest in advancing plans for the regional hosting of the Cricket World Cup 2007.

On 18 June 2007, Owen Arthur gave an address at the US Library of Congress to American and CARICOM country officials that outlined his plan for the CSME.

On this occasion, Owen Arthur expressed support for slavery reparations; he felt that educational exchanges and technology transfers would be more appropriate than financial payments.

Owen Arthur maintained that he could still contribute to CARICOM.

Owen Arthur said that he intended to serve out his parliamentary term.

In 2010, Owen Arthur was given a vote of confidence by four of his parliamentary colleagues to return as Leader of the BLP after they expressed dissatisfaction with Mottley.

Owen Arthur was sworn in as Barbados' new Opposition Leader on 18 October 2010.

Owen Arthur was appointed professor of practice in Economics of Development at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, on 1 November 2018.

Owen Arthur was the third professor of practice at the UWI Cave Hill Campus.

In January 2020, Owen Arthur was appointed as Chairman of regional airline LIAT to supervise its financial recovery.

Owen Arthur had been a staunch supporter of LIAT during his premiership.

Owen Arthur was Chairman of the Commonwealth Observer Group during the 2020 Guyanese general election; he confirmed that the election had been orderly.

Owen Arthur later criticized the incumbent APNU+AFC alliance for their months-long attempts to delay finalizing the election results.

Owen Arthur was a 1999 recipient of the Order of Jose Marti of Cuba.