Basseterre, St. Kitts, September 23, 2016 (SKNIS)—This year’s National Consultation on the Economy is expected to take a different focus by listening to the inputs from several social and economic partners from the public sector, private sector and civil society who will benefit from small group discussions with a facilitator, according to Deputy Financial Secretary, Mr. Calvin Edwards.
“Each group would be led by a facilitator, and a rapporteur will report back to the plenary session,” Mr. Edwards said. “We feel that this format will lend itself to input from people rather than lecturing to them,” Mr. Edwards said.
The annual National Consultation on the Economy, hosted by the Ministry of Finance, will be held under the theme “Working Together—Accelerating Growth and Building Resilience”. The event will be held at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort Ball Room on Wednesday, 28th September, 2016 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Several persons are down to give addresses/remarks at the Consultation. President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Jose Rosa, will give remarks, along with Premier of Nevis, the Honourable Vance Amory. Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris will present the feature address and Financial Secretary, Hilary Hazel, will deliver a presentation on the state of the economy. Mr. Roger Brisbane has been invited to speak about supporting the agricultural sector.
Several stakeholder groups are anticipated to join in the discussions in an effort to accelerate growth and promote sustainable development in the Federation.
Some of these groups include the Financial Services, which will look at the legal and regulatory environment and issues such as FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and De-risking. Social Development will focus on Education and TVET (Technical Vocational Education Training) in particular, and Safety and Security. In order to Stimulate Growth in the Production Sector, areas such as Agriculture, ICT (Information Communication Technologies), Manufacturing, and Tourism will be examined. In order to Build Resilience issues such as Climate Change, Infrastructure Development, Renewable Energy and Water will be treated.
