Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Premier, Charles Washington Misick, says the British Overseas Territory was able to support life and living through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic because of the availability of vaccines, and that the territory had entered the pandemic “with a strong economy and significant reserves served us well”
However, he noted that the TCI is mindful of the potentially devastating impact of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.
“Our good fortune is not taken for granted and we remain conscious that our gains can be erased by the full impact of a single Category 5 hurricane,” said Misick, as he addressed the 52nd board of governors meeting of the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
Misick, who is the outgoing chairman of the board of governors, said many CDB borrowing member countries (BMCs) face a conundrum of having to do more with less.
“It is, therefore, most fitting that we should theme the meeting: ‘Measure Better to Target Better: Adaptation and Resilience,” he said, adding that achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will require not only adaptation and resilience in a fast-changing global environment but also a measurement system that considers the internal resilience capacity of BMCs.
He said the first face-to-face CDB board of governor’s meeting since 2019, should “serve as a clarion call for strengthening our regional partnership and recommitting to the changes that will be necessary for the sustainability of CDB”.
Misick said TCI and the other British Overseas Territories, “having gone through what is hopefully the worst of COVID-19” are able to host this regional meeting, which ended on Thursday, because of the partnership and support from the CDB’s non-borrowing member the United Kingdom.
He said TCI was able to open its borders earlier than many countries because of the gift of vaccines and technical support.
“As a result of that we have experienced a V-shaped economic recovery,” Misick said, adding that collectively, the Caribbean faces the same threats “but together we are able to decrease our vulnerabilities and build resilience by smart planning and committed resources.
“Crisis often gives us an opportunity to press the reset button and the pandemic is no different,” the premier said, noting that the region’s survival and sustainability depend on “reimagining our futures.
He said measuring better means that MBCs will “need to see the value of consistent engagement and discourse of the various issues that we can collectively address and for which we can and must find solutions.
“Solutions can be found when we invest in and support the Caribbean Development Bank by giving a voice at the table articulating our considered view on perplexing matters; being a voice at times for our brother who is not doing as well as we are, by provision of resources, financial or otherwise.”
Misick said solutions can be found in funding research and development and other interventions that will assist all Caribbean countries.
He said the region must continue to see the CDB as “a regional public good; an enabler of the progression of the entire development agenda of the entire region; a resource that is supported by all of us. This requires all hands on deck. “
Misick said while some borrowing member countries are able to access more affordable lines of credit than offered by the CDB, “interest rates should not be the sole variable in accessing credit.”
He said developing banks like CDB have the added value of in-house technical expertise that allows them to participate in decisions involving choices of technology and scale.”
He said TCI is engaging with the CDB “and it is our intention to leverage our good credit rating to the betterment of the TCI and the bank toward economic transformation.”
CMC/
