St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L.Douglas (c) and European Union Commisioner His Excellency Amos Tincanni (r) watch as Permanent Secretary in the Minitry of National Security, Mrs. Hilary Hazel signs the agreement. (Photo by Erasmus Williams)

The Agreement for the annual financing until 2013 was signed Wednesday afternoon in the presence of St. Kitts and Nevis' Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas by visiting Barbados-based European Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, His Excellency Amos Tincanni and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Mrs. Hilary Hazel.~~adz:Right~~

"Honourable Prime Minister, it is with great honour and pleasure that I will like to hand over to you the 2006 project in support of the sugar adaptation. It is, I think, the first project that we are helping you with in 2006 and we will be doing it for 7 years and I hope this is a very good beginning," said Ambassador Tincanni.

In brief remarks, the St. Kitts and Nevis leader outlined how the money will be used.

"Firstly, it would be used to build capacity in government.

Secondly, it is to provide financing for social protection and for community empowerment of our people, especially those who have been infected by the closure of the sugar industry. It is also to ensure that there is put in place an effective land management programme that is to be pursued aggressively by this government. It will also be used for skills development and also to build a statistical database that is going to be essential as we move forward in our transition programmes," said Prime Minister Douglas.

Dr. Douglas emphasised that the EC$9 million is for 2006 and as the programme of assistance will continue until 2013.

"Of course we would hope that the amount over each year of the seven years would be about 9 million, but this needs to be negotiated," he added.

Prime Minister Douglas on behalf of the Government and People of St.

Kitts and Nevis extended gratitude to the European Commission for the support that has been provided through the instrumentality of this document.~~adz:Right~~

Dr. Douglas recalled the government's "brave and bold decision to close the sugar industry here in St. Kitts and Nevis in July 1995."

"We indicated very clearly that it was going to be a most trying time for us, as we transit out of sugar and prepare to diversify the economy and attempt to become much more competitive in dealing with the rest of the world," said Prime Minister Douglas.

He noted that the government produced the Adaptation Strategy Report, prepared by the Ministry of Finance and Sustainable Development and the number of other government officers from different departments and ministries.

We prepared the Adaptation Strategy Report, which eventually was sent to your Commission in Europe and today this is the result of that hard work that was done by our people," Dr. Douglas noted.

He also recalled in May last year, he led a Prime Ministerial and Foreign Minister delegation to Europe and spoke with the President of the Commission, met several members of the Commission and spoke to several Parliamentarians in Europe.

"In a Press Conference, I brought our case to the European public and indicated that this was going to be a difficult period for us adjusting as we had closed our sugar industry," said Prime Minister Douglas, who expressed thanks to Ambassador Tincanni, Permanent Secretary Hazel and officials in the Ministry of Finance and Sustainable Development for pursuing "our request to the Commission for support in the transition programmes that we have to be engaged in St. Kitts and Nevis to ensure that there is a sweeter life after sugar."