BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, July 08, 2020 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – The second term Team Unity Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has pledged to continue its build out of a more diversified economy – one that is resilient to external shocks which can result from catastrophes such as Category 5 Hurricanes, other major weather phenomena, as well as epidemics and pandemics.
This was outlined in the Throne Speech of the second term of the Team Unity Government delivered by His Excellency the Governor General, Sir S. W. Tapley Seaton G.C.M.G., C.V.O., Q.C., J.P., L.L.D., at the opening of the new Parliamentary session today, Wednesday, July 08, 2020 at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort Ballroom.
The Throne Speech summarized the Team Unity Government’s approach to governance, growth and development over the next five years.
“COVID-19 is “teaching all countries the imperative of economic diversification and investment in new and emerging drivers while strengthening traditional sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, the digital economy, and financial services. As such, in this new term my Government will set out to continue to build out the digital economy needed to power investment and diversification in all sectors of the economy. This will be facilitated by investment partnerships to advance research and development in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) industry,” the Throne Speech read.
The Team Unity Government also intends to actively attract and recruit high end manufacturing operators to the Federation, while creating new jobs for the labour force.
Additionally, as it looks to strengthen the St. Kitts and Nevis economy, the government will facilitate new trade agreements with emerging markets such as India, Brazil and South Africa, in order to promote exports and attract new investments from these jurisdictions.
It was also outlined in the highly anticipated Throne Speech that the Team Unity administration will “pursue the development of a small business rescue fund in order to assist businesses with resilience and recovery in the face of a disaster that interrupts business/economic activity in the country” and “make more lands available for agricultural production, some of which have been earmarked to come from acreage already redeemed from the Land-for-Debt Swap.”
The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, on several occasions, has reaffirmed its commitment to invest additional resources into developing the agricultural sector in its second term.
This thrust was again reiterated in the Throne Speech, which stated that the Team Unity administration will “aggressively promote and facilitate local investment in agriculture and related technology in order to boost food security, agro and meat processing, reduce our food import bills, export produce to neighbouring islands and conserve foreign currency reserves.”
