BASSETERRE, ST. Kitts – LOFTY objectives have been set by the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) to proactively promote the island as an ideal investment market coming out of a challenging, yet successful year.
In an interview with SKNVibes, Investment Promotion Officer Stanley Jacobs outlined the highlights of SKIPA for 2009, describing the year as “very successful”. Although only in its second year of operation, the investment agency has recorded a list of accomplishments to strengthen its marketing thrust.
In February, the institution was able to launch its website, www.stkittsipa.org, which has attracted potential investors from over 80 countries worldwide. By April, SKIPA published its inaugural investment guide, a full colour brochure highlighting the strategic advantages of St. Kitts as an investment destination.
A DVD was produced later in the year and provided investors with critical information on investment procedures and policies, underscoring some of the advantages of investing in St. Kitts.
In recognizing the importance of attracting investors, SKIPA held a business orientation and business forum at various embassies and overseas missions, in particular Toronto, New York and Washington.
“This move was two-fold. The first component was the orientation to create a kind of synergy between our office and the overseas office so that they could understand what our roles are and how they can assist us in achieving them.
“The second component was in the form of a business forum where we invited some 40-plus business individuals and they were given information about the investor climate in St. Kitts. Those events were very successful,” Jacobs said while outlining achievements in the agency’s marketing plan.
SKIPA has made significant strides in advancing its policy advocacy developments in 2009. It was very instrumental in collaborating with the Hotel and Tourism Association to offer incentive packages to small hotels and was also a lead player in promoting a stimulus package for standalone restaurants. The Construction Industry Retooling Initiative was also a project of SKIPA, which sought to improve the quality of services offered and make them more competitive.
Over 100 investment enquiries were made in 2009 and 19 projects are at some point in the investment pipeline: 11 are being facilitated, seven have already been approved and one has materialized into a fully functioning business.
This year, according to Jacobs, the agency is poised to work more assiduously in advocating for policy changes that would enhance the investment climate in St. Kitts. It plans to hold its first investment forum in St. Kitts, which would lend to the organisation’s 2010 objective of increasing SKIPA’s visibility on the local market.
“We will seek out new and emerging markets for foreign direct investment and for joint ventures with local businesses, and we will be working with the World Bank in relation to the 2011 Ease of Doing Business Report. We will also be working with the World Bank and relevant government ministries in relation to implementing some of the recommended reforms,” Jacobs projected.
The year 2009 came with a number of challenges resulting from the global economic downturn and the resultant ‘grey listing’ of the Federation by the OECD as a “secret tax haven”. Since then, the CEO of SKIPA along with the representatives from the Ministry of Finance and the Legal Department in both St. Kitts and Nevis have been in negotiations for the signing of tax information exchange treaties.
Eight treaties have been signed so far and 10 others have been initialled, waiting for signing dates from their respective countries.
This is expected to be done within the next two months, according to Jacobs, and would set the platform for SKIPA to continue the work that it has done in 2009.
