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Officials in Cabinet, Chairman of the St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corporation, Dr. Keith Archibald; CARDI official, Dr. Wendel Parham; Head of the Sugar Transition Mangement Team, Mr. Gordon Alert; SSMC General Manager, Mr. Joseph Alfred and Labour Commissioner, Mr. Clifford Thomas. |
BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JUNE 2ND 2005 (CUOPM) A Special Session of the St. Kitts and Nevis Cabinet, under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Denzil L. Douglas, was convened on Wednesday to hear update reports from members of the Sugar Transition Management Team.
The Cabinet also received reports from the Executive Director of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Dr. Wendel Parham; Director of Agriculture, Dr. Jerome Thomas; Labour Commissioner, Mr. Clifford Thomas; General Manager of the St. Kitts Sugar Manufacturing Corporation (SSMC), Mr. Joseph Alfred and President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union, His Excellency Ambassador Walford Gumbs.
Also present were Chairman of the SSMC, Dr. Keith Archibald; Treasurer of the St. Kitts-Nevis Trades and Labour Union, Mr. Stanley Franks; Acting Financial Secretary, Mrs. Janet Harris; Financial Consultant, Mr. Wendell Lawrence and Senior Project Analyst in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Ms. Shirley Skerritt.
Head of the Transition Management Team, Mr. Gordon Alert presented the Teams Action Plan aimed at improving the employment, training and livlihood of the persons who would be displaced by the closure of the sugar industry in July.
Mr. Alert noted that the programme to manage the transformation from sugar production has attracted significant attention and promise of funding from Regional and International donor agencies, who through their commitment, have demonstrated an awareness and sensitivity to the needs of the request for assistance.
He detailed the issues related to sugarcane by-products, training, the structure of the Transition Management Team, funding and the on-going discussions held with representatives of the United Kingdom Department for International Department (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Michigan State University, the Jamaica Exports Association, the Embassy of Cuba, the Republic of China on Taiwan Agricultural Mission and the European Union.
The CARDI official presented a paper on the Strategic Marketing Plan for the Ministry of Agriculture. The Director of Agriculture presented a paper on land requirements in the 2005 2009 Non-Sugar Agricultural Development Plan.
The Labour Commissioner gave a report on the severance pay and other benefits for the sugar workers under the law and the representatives of the Trades and Labour Union provided an insight into the existing agreements with the SSMC.
