Forum to discuss way forward for local economy

BASSETERRE, St Kitts (CMC):

The St Kitts and Nevis government will stage a national economic growth forum later this month that is also designed at identifying new areas of economic activity in the twin-island Federation.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Hilary Hazel, said the February 23 event is to contribute to sustainable and equitable growth and development of the twin-island nation.

"The specific purpose of the forum is to strengthen public and private-sector dialogue, policy development and programme-project implementation to stimulate growth over the short to medium term," Hazel said.

"The session would emphasise input from the private sector and provide a genuine opportunity for private enterprise-individuals to share their perspective on the current and future requirements for stimulating and sustaining growth in the Federation."

The Ministry of Sustainable Development and the Ministry of Tourism and International Trans-port are coordinating the one-day event, where it is hoped that the stakeholders would provide a strategy as to how the Denzil Douglas administration and the private sector can work together to achieve the national goal of sustainable growth.

"Areas proposed for consideration include the cruise tourism sub-sector, stay-over tourism subsector, education tourism, resort and villa, financial services and ship registry, agriculture, ICT development, manufacturing, small business development, foreign direct investment-foreign aid and loans and the Citizenship by Investment Programme," said Hazel.

Among the topics to be discussed include competing effectively in a changing global environment, emerging opportunities for stimulating growth in new and existing areas, and prospects for expanding goods and service exports.

The meeting will also explore the potential opportunities resulting from new trade regimes, including the Economic Partnership Agree-ment signed between the European Union and the Caribbean Forum countries, the Guyana-Brazil Partial Scope Agreement and the CARICOM-Canada Trade and Develop-ment Agreement.

- CMC