The St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency is hosting a Business Forum highlighting investment opportunities in St. Kitts on 12th November, 2009 at the Capital Hilton 16th & K Street, Washington, DC at 5 pm. The guest list for this event includes approximately forty potential investors that have been sourced by our Embassies, Missions and Foreign based Tourism Offices. The private sector will also participate in the Business Forum by showcasing their products and services to investors at the event.

Ms. Shawna Lake, CEO of the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency (SKIPA) made a presentation to the Manufacturers’ Division of the St. Kitts & Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The Manufacturers’ Division is the product of a successful amalgamation of the St. Kitts Manufacturers’ Association into the Chamber in 1988. The 33 members of the Manufacturers’ Division of the Chamber play a vital role in our local economy by making a significant contribution to GDP, providing employment opportunities, providing training opportunities for our local work force and promoting St. Kitts through the export of products made on the island. The objective of the presentation was to update the Division on the progress of SKIPA and open a dialogue between both organisations. 

Ms. Lake began the presentation with an overview of the agency’s four main functions that include investment promotion, investment facilitation, aftercare services and policy advocacy. Since, its inception on December 11, 2007 the agency has participated in 3 overseas promotional events. Ms. Lake explained that although, she would like SKIPA to participate in more overseas events the changing global environment has negatively affected the agency’s ability to do so. An Investment Guide for St. Kitts has recently been produced. The Investment Guide is a full colour print publication that is filled with useful information for anyone who is interested in starting a business in St. Kitts. This initiative was funded primarily through the sale of advertising slots to local businesses. The investment guide will be distributed overseas through our Foreign Missions and locally through the agency’s network of contacts.

SKIPA’s website has also been used to promote St. Kitts as an attractive investment destination. Launched in February 2009, the website has gained repute in the online community through its comprehensive investor based content, news articles, links and list of investment opportunities. In the five months in which the website has been operational it has attracted over 1000 hits from potential investors in 97 countries which include St. Kitts, USA, UK, Canada, Brazil, South Africa and India just to name a few. Ms. Lake expressed her pleasure with the website’s ability to offer a relatively inexpensive medium through which the agency can publish investment related information that is easily accessible to both local and foreign investors.

During the presentation, Ms. Lake confirmed that SKIPA is an organization that assists local investors as well as foreign investors. She cited SKIPA’s work with the St. Kitts and Nevis Tourism Association in establishing a concession package for small hotels and the recently approved concession package for full service-stand alone restaurants as evidence of the agency’s commitment to improving the investment climate in St. Kitts for both local and foreign investors. Ms. Lake also alluded to ongoing work being done with the St. Kitts & Nevis Building Contractors Association geared towards improving their ability to deliver a more efficient product to citizens of St. Kitts and the investment community in general.  Ms. Lake noted that more will be done in the coming weeks to increase awareness of SKIPA and its services among the local population.

The Manufacturer’s Association responded favorably to the presentation and expressed their gratitude for the work that SKIPA has been doing. In a gesture of good faith, the Association offered their support to the agency as it continues in its quest to improve the investment climate in St. Kitts.

Shawna Lake (CEO, SKIPA) will be among the panel of distinguish industry experts at Fintel’s 2^nd Annual Global Financial Services Centres Conference on 19^th and 20^th May, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. This gathering of Financial Services Industry leaders will include keynote speakers such as Jeffrey Owen, Head of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD; described by Time Magazine as one of “the world’s 100 most influential people.” David Green, Advisor on International Affairs, Financial Reporting Council, UK. Dan Gallagher, Deputy Director in Division of Trading and Markets, Securities and Exchange Commission and more than 30 other speakers from financial services centres around the world.

Follow the discussions as these industry leaders debate and work out what actions will be necessary to protect jurisdictions with sound business practices and help their clients’ businesses adapt to the changing business environment. The entire framework of international financial services centres faces radical change. The changed regulatory and taxation landscape demands a change or get left behind attitude; the leaders of the world major economies has already signaled an intention to crack down on so called “tax havens”. What does it mean for the financial services industry?

For constant updates on the conference as key industry leaders examined the implication for financial services centres see: www.financialcentresinternational.com

For conference brochure see: http://www.financialcentresinternational.com/conference/2009-01/GFSC-2009.pdf

Representatives of the World Bank will be presenting the “2009 Doing Business Survey” for St. Kitts-Nevis at the Frigate Bay Resort on Friday 13^th February 2009, at 9.00 a.m. 

The Doing Business Survey ranks countries according to their ease of doing business as determined by a set criterion.  St. Kitts has participated in this survey for the last few years and this would be the first opportunity for local stakeholders to meet directly with the World Bank representatives to discuss the rankings given for our various business sectors, the methodology used, ways that the survey could be improved and how the ease of doing Business in St. Kitts can be improved as well.

Interested stakeholders are kindly asked to contact to Ms. Vanessa Maynard of SKIPA to confirm your attendance on or before Thursday 12^th February, 2009.

We look forward to your attendance and active participation in this presentation so that we can improve the ranking of St. Kitts-Nevis for the 2010 survey.

Tel: (869) 465 -1153

Please visit the following link for more information on the report:

http://www.doingbusiness.org/ExploreEconomies/?economyid=175