By John Denny
Nevis Reporter
(Gingerland, Nevis) – A new government agency to promote and safeguard investment in Nevis won high praise from the visiting U.S. Ambassador at an event to mark its start.
The Nevis Investment Promotion Agency held its official launch ceremony at the Old Manor Hotel on Wednesday, May 21. The meeting was well attended by Nevis ministers and dignitaries, Organization of American States Representative Mr. Starret Greene and U.S. Ambassador to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Her Excellency Mrs. Mary Martin Ourisman.
NIPA is a new autonomous investment marketing agency in Nevis which has evolved from the Financial Services Marketing and Development Department. It was formerly constituted in an act of Parliament last February. Employing 10 people, NIPA will be responsible for promoting investment, facilitating investment, aftercare services and advocating policy changes to improve the investment climate in Nevis.
The Ambassador commended the NIA on their work with geothermal and the measures taken to launch the NIPA.
“I believe that your newly discovered alternative energy resources in the form of geothermal energy, combined with your strong push to open Nevis to high quality foreign investment, will combine to create a new era, a new era of economic growth and job opportunities for all Nevisians,” she said.
She placed importance on promoting investment for Nevis because over the past few years the focus of development across the region had strayed from the traditional sectors and regional investment to become increasingly focused on international investment.
St. Kitts and Nevis have been an important regional leader for charting a bold new course and the measures put in place would reap the benefits of the global trade system, she said.
“St. Kitts and Nevis in fact has been an important regional leader in charting that bold new course. In these circumstances, one of the primary challenges which policy decision makers, entrepreneurs and managers face is to devise mechanisms that stimulate economic growth, improved productivity and provide employment opportunities to their citizens,” said the Ambassador. “Only through such measures can we make a small island with such a small island economy such as St. Kitts and Nevis to be full participants and enjoy the benefits of the global trade system.”
Alexander Hamilton would have been proud of the steps that the island has taken, the Ambassador said.
“Your native son and our founding father Alexander Hamilton would be very proud for what Nevis has done. Not only was he the principal architect responsible for designing the tenets of the Constitution of the United States of America but as our First Secretary of the Treasury he argued that if a nation was to grow and prosper, its credit must be sound to encourage both foreign and domestic investment. How many years ago was that? It still holds true today,” she said.
The Ambassador also said she was very pleased with the actions of USAid through the Caribbean Open Trade Support Project for their support of the NIA in starting NIPA
She explained that USAid had worked very hard with Nevis to press forward the initiative and adoption of legislation to remove administrative bottle necks.
“They have worked with St. Kitts and Nevis Customs and Excise Department to streamline procedures to reduce the bureaucracy and ultimately to speed up the clearance of goods that are imported into Nevis,” she said.
