Need for diversity
St Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has proposed the establishment of a new US Caribbean Trade initiative.
Chastanet. He made the proposal in an interview with the US business network CNBC, saying the recent hurricanes that have devastated parts of the Caribbean have shown the need for diversity as it relates to sources of food.
Miami was shut down
He also pointed to a shutdown of the American relief hub for several days. “The support had to come from the south because while we were going through this, you had two hurricanes heading up north. Literally, Miami was shut down. So, unfortunately, the American hub got shut down almost for ten days out of Miami. This really has shown us we need to diversify ourselves a bit and maybe look a bit more to Panama in terms of supplies of food.”
Chastanet said the resilience of the Caribbean is very strong and the region will band together to recover from the disasters.
Need for a new private sector initiative
The Prime Minister also proposed the establishment of a new private sector-led initiative what would allow US companies to invest in St Lucia, tax-free, and be able to send their resources back to the US without facing heavy US government taxes.
Investment opportunities
He cited that there are great investment opportunities in the Caribbean region for American companies.
“Can we not get an incentive. That’s what we’re in discussions with the US about. If US companies invest into the Caribbean, those investments in our books are always tax-free. We would like the US to allow those funds to be repatriated into the US tax-free, only on those investments.”
“This policy would accomplish getting the funds back into the US, and create an avenue for the US private sector to participate in the Caribbean’s growth and bring a lot of money to the table,” Chastanet said.
