He told hundreds of supporters at his party's 74th Annual Conference last Sunday at the Marriott Events Center that the fallout from the closure of the sugar industry has become real and the impact more intense for persons who relied almost exclusively on this sector for their employment and means of livelihood.

Dr. Douglas who recently attended summits of Caribbean leaders and Spain in Madrid and Latin American, Caribbean and European leaders in Vienna, said it was the prudent and correct thing to do in order to move this country forward.

"Having recalled the events of those two meetings, I am once again fortified in my knowledge that St. Kitts and Nevis took the bold and correct decision to move away from sugar at the time that we did, because the prognosis for the industry in this region is, I am sorry to say, is not improving," said Dr. Douglas.

He added that although he does not wish to be quoted as passing judgment on other countries that persist with the sugar industry, "I maintain that St.

Kitts and Nevis could not afford one additional season of producing sugar and selling it at the rate and on the terms and conditions that are available on the world market today and of that rate proposed by the European Union last year. We simply could not have done it again!"

"I do not think I need on this occasion to restate the reasons for the winding up of the sugar industry, as it has now become apparent and most obvious that the country simply could not sustain the losses that this industry was chalking up year after year, due to no fault of us here in St.

Kitts and Nevis," said Prime Minister Douglas, who noted that it was "easily the hardest and most painful decision I have had to take as a leader."

Prime Minister Douglas said closing the sugar industry "was even more traumatic than setting the date for the calling of general elections."

Referring to the fallout from the decision to close the sugar industry, Dr.

Douglas said there is an advantage as it gives him in his capacity as the Prime Minister, living among his own people in St. Pauls, in the heartland of the agricultural belt of this country.

"I wake up and go sleep every night with the reality of the impact of the closure of the sugar industry as it is etched on the faces of my own people in St. Paul's and the surrounding areas. I meet with them first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Long after they are asleep, I toss and turn in my bed, second-guessing my own decision and the decision of this Government to close the sugar industry and put these hundreds of people out of work. But, with every passing day and with more and more information on the plight and experiences of sugar producing states coming to light, I am satisfied that better could not have been done in our case," said Dr.

Douglas.

He said he is determined to minimise the process and period of suffering and although he do not report every day or every week on his every initiative to create meaningful and sustainable alternative employment for those people, "every minister of this government has effectively had "Employment Creation"

added to his own portfolio within the past two years."