BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH the inevitable cessation of the failing sugar industry in 2005, economic diversification has become increasingly important and the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party has listed it as a top priority in creating the “new economy”.
Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas said at a town hall meeting this week that it is essential for the nation to be transformed into a service-oriented economy in order to generate more economic activity and move away from the ‘mono-crop’ agriculture of the past.
“We recognize that as we change the national economy from that which has been dependent upon sugar agriculture for over 300 years, we need to look toward services. We need to look toward hospitality and tourism.
“We need to provide the necessary support to sustain this new economy that we are creating. We need to ensure that financial services, diversified agriculture and information communication technology are part of that new economy,” Douglas said.
The PM focused heavily on skills training in order for the transition into the new economy to be seamless. He noted that his government would continue to empower people with such training.
“We see why our people need to be trained in the skills that are going to be necessary for them to move our country forward. That is why we are investing in sending our young children to universities around the world, so they can be trained to become professionals.
“As more visitors come to our shores, and more hotels are being built, we recognize that more of our people will need to be trained,” Douglas informed.
He referenced the Youth Empowerment through Skills (YES) programme as one of the opportunities through which the government encourages skills training, adding that much emphasis must be placed on hospitality services.
Although the Labour Party’s concept of a new economy is heavily service-based, agricultural development was said to remain a high priority for the incumbents.
“Agriculture is critically important in the new economy that we are creating. Although we talk about a services economy led by tourism and hospitality services, by virtue of the nature of tourism, we need agriculture as well,” Douglas said.
“We need to create the appropriate linkages between tourism and agriculture, craft, sports and culture, but central to all of this is agriculture because the intention is to feed the tourist with our local produce when he/she comes,” he added.
