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BASSETERRE, St Kitts (SKNIS) -- Approximately 120 persons from the public and private sectors as well as civil society will spend the next six weeks developing strategies to increase the potential of and the prospects for growth in St Kitts and Nevis under the newly formed local chapter of the Caribbean Growth Forum.

The initial conference held last week (February 26) is part of a regional initiative facilitated with support from the World Bank, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

Government’s Deputy Financial Secretary Calvin Edwards indicated that organizers were quite pleased with the progress to date.

“I think it was a conference with a difference,” he stated. “...we had three groups – logistics and connectivity, skills and productivity, as well as improving the investment climate... The groups were given the task of identifying certain impediments in each of the areas and to come up with solutions.”

“Each group functioned very well, [and] expectations were all achieved in that we were able to get through a lot of work with the three groups.”

The high cost of inter-island travel and transportation in the Caribbean region was highlighted as one of the key concerns of local business executives. To highlight this, it was pointed out that freight costs from Miami, Florida in the United States to Argentina in South America usually costs less than shipping from Miami to St Kitts and Nevis. Another point emphasized the need to increase the soft skills and technical capabilities of persons entering the workforce.

The priority areas from the conference will be explored even further by members of each committee that will meet regularly over the course of the next six weeks to come up with specific interventions.

The Caribbean Growth Forum was launched in Jamaica in June 2012. Since then, national chapters have been established in the Dominican Republic, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia. Indications are that Dominica and Jamaica are next in line to establish national chapters later this month.

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