IMF – finance group meeting with Prime Minister

Friday 14^th September, 2007, St. George’s: On Thursday, September 13, 2007, representatives of the IMF met with Prime Minister, Dr the Rt. Hon. Keith Mitchell on the first leg of a regional aspect of consultation in overseeing the work of funding the Caribbean. The discussion was on Debt and Debt accumulation, Tourism, Impact the economic union will have on Grenada and its implications on the Region, Tax Holidays, Policy making of the OECS – Physical policies, Labour issues, Petrocaribe, and Measurement of Remittances and retention of work force in the OECS.

Special mention was made on the encouraging growth performance and by extension that of the Region as a whole. In the area of Tourism, there was discussion on the apparent down-turn in visitor arrival in the Region - specifically identifying the issue of limited and off-scheduled airlift service by Liat that is compounding the situation. Competition in the air lift business was viewed as a necessary solution to the monopoly service being offered.

Prime Minister, Mitchell advised on the growing need to diversify our tourism product e.g. Eco-tourism. He made the point that, other than the traditional beach-comer, visitors want to enjoy the inner-beauty of the country and to make the connection with nature as well as being attracted to up-market type investment.

Our distinguished Prime Minister won the interest and full attention of his audience as he made reference of the digital hole in the region and the efforts underway to address this shortcoming. He assured that the economic union, once differences were ironed-out, will aid us in a number of areas. The idea of multi-national issues will serve our respective interests in the eyes of donor countries and investors. As it relates to Policy making and Labour issues in the OECS, he stated that he does not foresee any major problem if discussions are conducted with an open mind.

The Prime Minister further stated that we cannot have a situation where one country becomes the seller where that would represent the intention and spirit of the Single Market. He stated that the Petrocaribe arrangement is still in the implementation stage. As it relates to sustaining a stable debt servicing mechanism, he made reference to the recurring hurricane devastation - with Felix being the most recent - to have impacted on the agriculture sector in particular. And that his Government intends to get to the point where it trains a larger portion of its work force – subsequently retaining an adequate reservoir of skilled workers.

The meeting ended with the IMF representatives thanking the Prime Minister for his stimulating and informative views and first-rate accommodation.