St. Lucia Simply Beautiful

The present electoral system in Guyana allows for a minority party to assume the mantle of government and to administer the affairs of the nation. The party that gets the most seats in parliament forms the government. There is no provision for a COALITION Government in Guyana. Until December 28, 2011 the party with the most votes always received in excess of fifty percent of the ballots and it was easy to cruise along with a parliamentary majority. Unfortunately, the opposition parties had no voice as their contribution was not necessary. The government introduced motions and bills, and generally had their way.

Is it not significant that the message of the advent of Christ the Lord was delivered in the context of shepherds keeping watch over their flock by night? We are all shepherds; don’t we all have our respective flocks? Are or flocks not more exposed by “night” rather than by “day”? I can think of no better example of this concept than the pilot project, BIM Ventures, conducted over the last three years to debug the implementation of the CBET Shepherding Model™ in the Barbados environment with the assistance of the Barbados Governme

CMEx is focused on the Caribbean journalist with a cross fertilisation of ideas from journalists and tourism officials from the Americas, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe whereas CPTM has a wider diversity of expertise, experience, interest and support which encompasses Africa, Australia, the Caribbean, Europe, India and the Indian Ocean, Malaysia, the Mediterranean and North America. As an example of such diversity, I was sitting at a table for lunch on the first day of the CPTM at which the randomly selected representation by country of birth was Barbados, Cyprus, Ghana, Malta, Romania, the Seychelles and the UK; and the next day, a smaller group Barbados, Germany and Nigeria.

We must attract Foreign Direct Investors, this is vital to our economic future. We must get the message out to the world that St. Lucia is a world class destination for doing business. In the meantime, we must get our Ease of Doing Business ranking to an acceptable level. In the interest of getting more for less, the efforts of all ministries and agencies seeking to attract foreign direct investments must be effectively coordinated, seeking joint representation and participation in events that will showcase what St. Lucia has to offer.

Here I am again riding my old hobby horse “Barbados as a Donor Country”. Whereas the traditional donor country model may help the recipient country, results show that the donor country is the net beneficiary of such schemes. This is primarily because the aid is usually tied to the purchase of goods and services from the donor country.

Congratulations are in order for all the victorious candidates in the recently held general elections in Saint Lucia! However, the real victory belongs to the Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP). Hon. Dr. Kenny D. Anthony and his team fought a good fight and the task to lead the country for the next five years is theirs.

The marketing and production functions go hand in hand. If we successfully sell products or services to given target markets we will have a sustainable economy. The productive sectors include tourism, agriculture, financial services, business development services, creative industries (e.g. film, music, fashion, fine arts, culinary arts and graphic arts), education, ICT, renewable energy, health and wellness and construction.

It was refreshing listening to former Prime Minister of Grenada, Honourable, Dr. Keith Mitchell on the midday news on 23/11/11 talking about uniting the people of Grenada, regardless of their political preference, to work together without discrimination for the benefit of the country. Grenada’s election is due in 2013 but Hon. Dr. Keith Mitchell is already beating the drum of unity. Shouldn’t St. Lucian politicians take note?

This is one of the busiest periods of my life. There are so many calls on my time, but I enjoy every moment of it – well, most moments – the enjoyment is my reward. This exemplifies the Rotary International Motto “Service above Self”.

The St. Lucia Youth Business Trust (SLYBT), another initiative of the Chamber was launched on the evening of Tuesday, 15th November, 2011at the Governor General’s residence. It was a very impressive ceremony with the main speakers being Dr. Stephen King of RISE – St. Lucia and Mrs. Marcia Brandon of Barbados Youth Business Trust. A few persons were recognized for their contribution to the successful implementation of the Trust. The following persons received awards:- Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of Saint Lucia, Mrs. Marcia Brandon of BYBT, Dr. Stephen King of RISE – St. Lucia, among other persons and organizations, and Construction and Industrial Equipment (CIE) and First Caribbean International Bank for their substantial financial contributions. Ms. Arlena Louis-Antoine is the Project Coordinator of the programme.