Nevis, West Indies. ?A Non-Tourist-Trap? Blog About Nevis.

PM Douglas – St. Kitts – Nevis
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
April 07, 2012 (CUOPM)

St. Kitts and Nevis is hopeful that the twin-island Federation will benefit from Indian investment in tourism, renewable energy, financial services and manufacturing.

St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, who is on an Official Working Visit to India was guest of honour at a Business Banquet hosted at Bath Castle in Ludhiana, the industrial capital of Punjab State, India, on Friday night.

Dr. Douglas delivered a powerful statement to over 100 Indian industrialists and business people about possibilities for developing partnerships between the business communities in both India and St. Kitts and Nevis.

Prime Minister Douglas stressed the global economic and financial recession has had severe impact not only on large economies in Europe, Asia and the United States, but also on small economies around the world.

For this reason he emphasized that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis could no longer pursue its public sector investment programme alone, but must now rely heavily on new partnerships with the private sector especially those in Brazil and India; hence his visit to India at this critical juncture.

At the end of the evening, a delegation of 20 business people met with Prime Minister Douglas to express their desire to undertake a visit to St. Kitts and Nevis to map out possible partnerships in the areas of tourism, renewable energy, tourism, financial services and manufacturing.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Douglas continues his working visit to Chandigarh with a tour of an 1800-bed hospital facility to discuss health tourism as part of the diversification strategy for tourism development for St. Kitts and Nevis.

Prime Minister Douglas has described his visit so far as “not only timely but quite successful.”

Prime Minister Douglas is accompanied by His Excellency Mr. Kevin Isaac, St. Kitts and Nevis’ High Commissioner in London and Senior Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Ms. Beverly Knight.

The St. Kitts and Nevis leader is the second Caribbean Prime Minister to visit India this year. In January, the Hon. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago visited the Asian nation.

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3. Investors Refusing To Invest In St. Kitts – Nevis
4. Nevis Visited By Indian High Commissioner
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PM Douglas Meets With Taiwanese Trade Delegation
Photo By Erasmus Williams

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
April 14, 2011 (CUOPM)

A 25-person Taiwan Trade delegation has been invited explore all opportunities to invest in the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.

“We believe that the challenges that we face with regard to renewable energy have to be met. We believe that there are opportunities that our businessmen can benefit from if we were to make the transition from the old dependence on fossil fuel to what is now greener renewable energy,” said Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas in welcoming the business persons when they paid a courtesy call late Thursday afternoon.

The delegation was accompanied by Taiwan’s Resident Ambassador in St. Kitts and Nevis, His Excellency Miguel Li-Jey Tsao.

Dr. Douglas hoped that the few days in St. Kitts and Nevis “will consolidate in your own mind that the new place to do business is the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis.”

Manufactured goods ranging from memory cards and ceiling fans to furniture and plastic machinery will be on display during the April 15th to April 16th Trade Show organised by the Republic of China (Taiwan) and sponsored by the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The Taiwan Trade Delegation are representatives of companies from Florida: King of Fans Solar Power Industry (ceiling fans and solar panel); MSI Miami Corp. (netbook, desktop computers); Genius Group KYE Systems America Corp (PC peripherals); Ben Q Latin America (PC, projector, Digital camera); TM Cell – an AT&T Contractor (Memory card); Snow Peas International (vegetable); Gran America (furniture); Sunny International Co (Sunglasses and handy tool); Lung Meng Machinery Co. (Plastic machinery); US-1 America Inc. (computer game); EURO-ASIA (fashion accessories).

Representatives from the Youth Taiwanese Chamber of Commerce and the Taiwan Trade Center in Miami are also among the delegation.

The Delegation will be guests at a Welcome Reception at OTI hosted by the St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Thursday night.

The Opening ceremony of the Trade Show at the Royal St. Kitts Hotel on Friday include remarks by Prime Minister Douglas, Minister of International Trade, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris; Taiwan’s Resident Ambassador in St. Kitts and Nevis, His Excellency Miguel Li-Jey Tsao; Leader of the Taiwan Trade Delegation from Florida state, Mrs. Tsai Hui Wu and Chamber President Morton.

Related posts:

1. St. Kitts – Nevis Urges Youth To Open Their Own Business
2. St. Kitts – Nevis Delegation To Visit Taiwan
3. St. Kitts – Nevis’ PM Douglas To Visit Taiwan
4. PM Says Meeting With Chamber Was Frank and Open
5. St. Kitts – Nevis Seeks Economic Help From Taiwan

All Investments Carry Some Risk

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
March 03, 2011 (CUOPM)

Government Treasury Bills are among the safest of investments.

So says Kittitian-born economist at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, Mrs. Willa Liburd, in response to a statement by Mr. Dwyer Astaphan who claimed that holders of government bonds tend to lose 25 percent of their investment in Treasury Bills.

At a recent political meeting Mr. Astaphan said “anybody who is investing in Government Bonds or Government Securities stands to lose 25 percent of the value of their investment.”

Prime Minister Douglas who was asked on Tuesdays for his reaction to Astaphan’s statement dubbed it “absolute nonsense” and charged that Astaphan seems bent on destabilising the country and create confusion in people’s mind.

Noting that she did not hear Mr. Astaphan’s statement, Mrs. Liburd said Treasury Bills “are among the safest of investments.”

“Treasury Bills are sold at a discount through a bidding process of tendering; so that you actually pay less than what you get when you redeem the Bills.  For a long time the yield of Government of St. Kitts and Nevis Treasury Bills was in the region of 8% per annum, even when interest rates at Commercial Banks on Certificates of Deposit were much lower,” said Liburd on the St. Kitts-Nevis List.

“When interest rates in general fell, they went down to 6% per annum; still a very enticing investment.  One-year Certificates of Deposits at home are in the region of 5% and a little higher at the Credit Union and I believe also at National Bank.  At the foreign banks at home they are lower.  91-day Certificates of Deposit here in the US are yielding as low as 0.15% per annum for amounts under US$100,000 and 0.20% for amounts of US$100,000 and over; that is, less than half of 1%,” said the United Nations economist.

She said that Government Treasury Bills are backed by the revenue generating capacity of the Government, but an additional safeguard is that a significant portion of St. Kitts and Nevis Government Treasury Bills are backed by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, as it is for other participating Governments of the ECCB.

“If they are not taken up by others, the ECCB is obligated to take them up to a certain quantity.  So if the former Minister of Government did say what he is claimed to have said, it would be good to know what he actually means,” concluded Mrs. Liburd.

“The Treasury Bills Investment Scheme that the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis is presently operating is exceptionally sound”.

There has never been any incident where when the time came for persons to have their investment returned on this kind of investment that they could not have their investment returns collected,” said Dr. Douglas, who emphasised that thee “has never been any incident or any occasion for the 16 years (of his Administration) and even before that I have been in office that the Treasury of St. Kitts and Nevis has been unable to pay investors in Treasury Bills on their investment at the end of the 90-day period when the expiration of those bills take place.”

He disclosed that the Cabinet every 90 days would ensure that the returns that are expected on people’s investment are actually realised for their benefit.

“There is no truth whatsoever. It is almost the ridiculous claims that were made a few weeks ago about the National Bank which eventually turned out to be yet another attempt by Dwyer Astaphan to create confusion and to create instability especially in the financial environment here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”

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5. St. Kitts – Nevis Government Claims Inflation Reduction