“WHY INVEST IN OUR ISLAND?” FEATURE ADDRESS BY THE HON DR. KENNY D. ANTHONY PRIME MINISTER & MINISTER FOR FINANCE, ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, PLANNING & SOCIAL SECURITY AT THE 2014 SAINT LUCIA INVESTMENT FORUM SANDALS GRANDE, GROS ISLET SUNDAY MAY 4th 2014. WELCOME TO OUR ISLAND Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Helen of the West, welcome to our island home of Saint Lucia. The Government of Saint Lucia greatly appreciates your interest and commitment to be here with us. We value your presence. I believe that the next few days will provide opportunities for sharing, learning and networking. We will learn from you as you learn from us. We want to be the best in what we do so we are equally anxious to hear from you. Even while we are only at the start of this Saint Lucia Investment Forum, your presence here says that you are giving us a chance, an opportunity, to convince you that Saint Lucia is a place for you to do business. A LAND OF ROMANCE I say this because, while preparing project analyses and reading investment guides and reviews are definitely important, what matters more in my view, is your understanding of our country, what makes us unique and different and why we have to be a location of choice for investment. Some of this will come from your exploration of our landscape and your encounters with our people. You will experience warmth and kindness. We do not manufacture such qualities; they are genuine and natural. So I hope you have come to this land of romance to fall in love, whether with its landscape and seascape, or with the charm of its people, or even with just one individual in particular. It is the perfect setting. When it’s all over, you will, I am sure, understand why our tagline remains “Saint Lucia, Simply Beautiful.” And for those who are married, I trust you’ll come back for your second honeymoon! You will soon come to realise that Saint Lucia is a well-balanced country that is actively mapping its future. We may not be a large state, but we are uniquely well proportioned. We may not have any extractable resources of the earth, but our land and people exude warmth and beauty and inspiration. PROUD TO BE A SMALL STATE We are proud to be a small state. It is said the beauty of a small state is that it is responsive. This will be tested this evening and in the next few days as you meet and interact with my Cabinet colleagues, Government officials, investment officials, and investors in our midst. I am anxious that you get to know us so that we can assist you in making good, honest investments. No matter where you have come from – Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas- we believe we have unique experiences and bankable opportunities for visitors and investors respectively. Depending on where you come from, you may have different perspectives of Saint Lucia or the Caribbean. We hope that over the next days, the positive angles will be widened, and the negatives, if any at all, corrected by understanding, by viewing our island through the right filters, the right lenses. Your time here is valuable, but you would quickly realise that sun, sea and sand are not what we’re all about. You will realise our culture is more complex than a collection of carnival, spicy cuisine and calypso, though you are welcome to sample all of these. VIVID AND VIBRANT Don’t get me wrong. Sun, sea and sand are all important assets to our land. However, Saint Lucia’s product goes far beyond the coast. I suppose our beauty lies in that we are a green island, an island that feels tropical and lush. Therefore, whatever growth generated, whether in tourism, manufacturing, or infrastructure, it should be green growth that keep our verdant vales vivid and vibrant. Investment in our green economy needs to be matter of fact, not after thought. As the song suggests, we have no intentions of paving paradise and putting up a parking lot, because we know what we’ve got. We’re proud to say that the grass is greener in Saint Lucia. DISTINCTIVE CHOCOLATE TASTE Marrying green development comes with its do’s and don’ts, and we have cherished examples of the former, and sadly some of the latter as well. I’ll speak to the do’s. I’d like to use Hotel Chocolat as a case study of sorts. For those who do not know of them, Hotel Chocolat is a UK-based chocolatier; that is to say, the company didn’t really know anything about hotels per se, but it understood fine tastes. Its business was making high quality chocolate. Well, genius struck when it was decided: why not own a hotel too? And so, Hotel Chocolat came to the Caribbean and, of course, where else would they come? They settled on Saint Lucia. It was a perfect marriage because Saint Lucia had a long history of growing cocoa, the sort of cocoa that was used to provide that distinctive chocolate taste. They decided to buy a centuries old cocoa estate at Rabot, in Soufriere, set with the mysterious Sulphur Springs behind them and the majestic Pitons offering a gorgeous view at the front. Not only did they want to grow their own cocoa, but they also wanted to create the experience for the guest of seeing how chocolate is made, and so why not open a chocolate factory as well? What Hotel Chocolat has managed to achieve is a perfect integration of different aspects of our economy – agriculture, tourism, industry about something as spectacular as chocolate. And I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me mentioning their Boucan restaurant where everything has some chocolate. INVESTMENT IN SOUFRIERE Hotel Chocolat is a fine example of the type of investment that has flowed into Soufriere. What the Government did was to ensure that the Pitons and its immediate environs were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We invested in a new highway linking the international airport to Soufriere. We improved the Soufriere Waterfront and other visitor amenities. Investors in Soufriere has done their part. They have respected the scale of the place, the aura of it; the mysticism of its green walls and the spirit of its air. We are working with the IFC, which first assisted us in some tourism competitiveness benchmarking. We are aware of the need to boost our competitiveness in our creative and cultural sector, and also in the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events, or MICE, sector. I’m pretty certain you will see opportunities in this regard. MANY MORE SYNERGIES There are many more exciting green synergies such as this. Coconut oil is now seen as a wonderful green product to be used in soap, something we have a long tradition of. Again, there exists a wonderful opportunity to embrace such a product as coconuts and turn that into a broad variety of interwoven experiences for both agriculture, tourism and industry. The same can be said for essential oils and specialised spa experiences. You name it and Saint Lucia can provide for you the wonderful backdrop; the authentic historical experience; the rich volcanic soils. We just saw our highest stay-over visitor arrivals on record in 2013, and with our growing visitor arrivals, we continue to attract the world’s rich and famous to the most luxurious, yet naturally beautiful properties. It is that Saint Lucia brand and experience that the stars are interested in. We are looking for partners that can be ever committed to unique, luxury products and experiences, and nothing short of excellence. BEST PLACE TO DO BUSINESS As you may have read, Saint Lucia is the largest economy in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union and one of the most progressive in the Caribbean Basin. We are also members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States(OECS). We share a stable, common currency with half a million residents. We share a common judicial system, and many other useful amalgams such as joint procurement, civil aviation and telecommunication regulation. As the best place to do business within the Caribbean Community, we are committed to strengthening the business environment, by promoting investments that make business easier, more affordable, and certainly more attractive. “WORK IN PROGRESS” We know that being better, always seeking effective reforms is the name of the game. Excellence is always “work in progress.” We are working to improve our throughput rates at the ports, by improving arrangements with Customs to aid our exporters and importers. We will soon have a new commercial division of our High Court, which will provide more dedicated handling of commercial litigation. Soon too, we will introduce “on line” registration of companies. We are currently reviewing regulations under the Physical Planning Act, and will undertake a review of its operations to see how we can make it more precise and responsive. Just a few weeks ago, we introduced new incentives legislation to encourage investment in the agriculture and tourism sector. In some instances, corporate tax breaks and other incentives may be granted for as long as twenty five years. We have Special Development Areas legislation which provides further tax exemptions in areas we want to promote investment. Furthermore, now that we have successfully introduced the value-added-tax, we are currently reviewing our income tax framework with an aim to lower income tax rates. A BROADBAND NATION As an island we are very much aware of the importance of links – lines of communication. Very strategically, we liberalised our telecommunications sector to prepare for our country for an E-reality. We will continue to modernise our communications by making Wifi more ubiquitous, to the enjoyment of visitors and residents alike. We are exposing our relatively youthful population to ICT through numerous initiatives in training, the universal provision of laptops at fourth form in high school, as well as further support through the recently launched Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme, CARCIP. As an island, you have no choice but to be a broadband nation. As a well-educated, English-speaking country, with a time zone the same as East Coast United States, the potential for IT-enable business process outsourcing is great. MORE THAN JUST TOURISM The reality across the Caribbean that we must be more than just tourism destinations, more than just a place to visit. In the past, we had a dependence on agriculture particularly on mono-crops, which lasted for centuries. Saint Lucia is not interested in “satisfactory underperformance” and doing the same thing over and over. The time has come to reach to the next level. Saint Lucia wants to become a modern, prosperous state that is a great place to live, work and, of course, play for all. And as a small island developing state, foreign direct investment is our lifeblood. And Saint Lucia has so much untapped potential: particularly in our island’s south, but also in the mature north. But more so, the potential lies in the creativity of our people. They want to live a Caribbean dream and we are determined to build a smart, health, inclusive society that will support and sustain growth. As I speak, Saint Lucia is investing in modern healthcare facilities, with two major national hospitals under construction, north and south. The synergy between health infrastructure and our investment in education services, particularly in medicine is also growing. We are committed towards developing our international gateway of Vieux Fort as a university town, specialising in medical training. We believe that there is huge untapped potential in Health Tourism. We just want a courageous investor to partner with us! We have invested extensively in education and skills development. We intend to shift the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College to become a university college. The Government set up many years ago the National Skills Development Centre, which has a number of locations throughout the island. It’s capable of supporting a wide range of skills training and re-training and can be an excellent partner in human resource development. We can, with education. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS Government knows very well it does not have the resources to meet the vast financing requirement committed to providing the infrastructure required to support growth. We are committed to Public-Private Partnerships for major investments such as the redevelopment of our international airport and seaport gateways. Other sectors that will require extensive investment in the next few years include renewable energy, water and wastewater, roads infrastructure and inter and intra-island connections. LAST THOUGHTS Ladies and gentlemen, the night is still young, and I have been advised to keep it so. Saint Lucia is interested in inclusive, sustainable growth. I trust you are interested in the same. I offer you a few last thoughts on why Saint Lucia is for you: Saint Lucia is a land with a great location: set in the Tropics, set on the Caribbean Sea, and not too far from the Panama Canal and the United States and Latin America; Saint Lucia is a land of English language, and that should make business easy; Saint Lucia is a land that subscribes to the rule of law, without reservation. We do not believe in expropriation of businesses; investments are safe and secure; Saint Lucia is a land of love and literature and lore, Derek Walcott and many of like stature have assured us of that; Saint Lucia is the land of livid thoughts, of Arthur Lewis, Nobel Prize winner of Economics and the intellectual bastion of the Caribbean; Saint Lucia is a land of links, with connectivity by great telecoms, sound infrastructural backbone and daily flights to major international gateways; Saint Lucia is a land of good living and luxury experiences; Saint Lucia is a land of learning; Saint Lucia is a land of good leadership; Saint Lucia is a land of light and lingering sunsets, which makes good for powering by solar, and also for long evening drinks, perhaps accentuated by our local liquors like a Chairman’s or a Marigot Bay; and Finally, Saint Lucia is a land of landscape, of where your investment will be limited by your imagination, in this land of the light. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank the management of Invest Saint Lucia for its organisation of this event. I welcome you to mix and mingle and network and make new partnerships. Once again, I thank all of you distinguished guests for your presence. I, therefore, have nothing more but the honour to declare this 2014 Saint Lucia Investment Forum open. Thank you and have a wonderful night.
Posted on: Mon, 05 May 2014 15:14:25 +0000
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