| St. Kitts-Nevis Signs Open Skies Agreement with United States |
| By L.K. Hewlett |
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Hon. Richard Skerritt (L) and Christopher Sandrolini sign Open Skies Agreement |
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St. Kitts-Nevis, on Tuesday (Dec 13) became the first country in the OECS to sign an Open Skies Agreement with the United States of America.
Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Hon. Richard Skerritt and Christopher Sandrolini, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy to Barbados, signed the official documents bringing the bi-lateral agreement into effect. By signing the Agreement, the Federation became the 104th Open Skies partner of the United States. Teams from both the Federation and the US Embassy negotiated over a period of about 14 months to bring the Agreement into being.
Sandrolini said the Open Skies Agreement strengthens and expands already strong trade and tourism links and will benefit business and travelers to St. Kitts and Nevis and the United States.
“Open Skies is a pro-consumer, pro-competition and pro-growth agreement that represents a market-oriented approach to aviation; airlines, not governments, will decide which cities to serve, the frequency of flights, the equipment used and the rates charged,” he said.
He said as many countries in the Caribbean were grappling with consumer concerns about regional travel, Open Skies was a significant step towards liberalizing civil aviation that will expand air service and also encourage more robust competition by airlines while safeguarding aviation safety and security. All of these ultimately affect the consumer, he said.
Open Skies agreements not only allows for commercial flights that cover the transport of passengers but also the transport of cargo. Sandrolini said bilateral air transport agreements allow cargo carriers to move goods more efficiently, thus benefiting the businesses and the communities that they serve. The global air cargo business is worth about $60 billion each year and transports about 35% of the value of goods traded internationally.
Sandrolini said speaking for the Embassy and United States, his team would look forward to “doing as many kinds of cooperative agreements as possible” with St. Kitts and Nevis.
Senator Skerritt explained that an Open Skies Agreement is an international policy concept which calls for the liberalization of rules and regulations in the international aviation industry, thus opening a “free market” for the airline industry. He said one of its primary objectives was to remove unnecessary barriers and minimize government intervention in the industry. This Agreement would allow everyone to benefit in time, the Minister said.
“Everybody benefits as time goes along under the umbrella of this Agreement. This is in fact an historic occasion. Although we are one of the tiniest nations of the world St. Kitts and Nevis has a proud and longstanding history which includes positive bilateral economic and cultural relationships with the United States of America…It is our hope that this Agreement will help to enhance the implementation of many holiday dreams in the future as more and more Americans travel to our region,” Hon. Skerritt said.
According to Skerritt, the Open Skies Agreement would help to strengthen an environment that will enable airlines to serve traveling customers more efficiently, create joint venture opportunities, reduce cost, maximize resources and embrace competition in a rapidly changing global market place. |
