Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves says St Vincent and the Grenadines is open for business with the completion of the Argyle International Airport (AIA).
Speaking on the G98.7 “Waking up with Mark and Gem” Canadian morning radio program, and broadcast live from the Beachcombers Hotel, SVG, Gonsalves said while SVG has attracted significant foreign investment as a proportion of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), even before the opening of the new airport, even more, investment opportunities are expected to flow into the country soon.
The Prime Minister said, coming out of the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit, held April 26-28, 2017, at the JW Marriott, Miami Florida, representatives from two hotel chains will visit SVG soon to a get a first-hand view of potential investment opportunities in the country.
Dr Gonsalves said SVG is open for business and used the opportunity to urge listeners of G98.7 live broadcast, in Canada and elsewhere, to identify SVG as the ideal place to invest.
He added that more airlift services will soon be available at the AIA, through Miami International Airport and John F Kennedy. In addition to a charter flight being arranged by the proprietor of Hot97 SVG, Luke Boyea, along with other airlines expected offer services to the much talked about AIA, St Vincent and the Grenadines, this summer.
Radio G98.7 is in SVG primarily to broadcast promote the upcoming 40th edition of the annual Vincy Carnival celebrations, which kicks off on May and runs through to early July, 2017.
The G98.7 team also announced they would be in SVG until Friday this week and would visit various sites around the multi-island nation, starting with the Botanical Gardens, the oldest in the Western Hemisphere.
Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture, Cecil McKie, also appeared on the Canadian Radio morning show. The G98.7 website says, for years, “Mark and Jem have been waking up [residents of] Toronto (Canada) with their entertaining views on current affairs and gossip”, Monday through to Friday every week, between the hours of 6 and 10 am.
According to the 2016 report on Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), SVG’s FDI stands at 16 percent of GDP for the year 2015. Similar percentage measurements for 2015 for other Caribbean countries are: Antigua-Barbuda 12 percent; St. Kitts-Nevis, 8 percent; Dominica, 7 percent; St. Lucia, 7 percent; Grenada, 6 percent; Barbados, 6 percent; Jamaica, 5.9 percent; Suriname, 5.7 percent; Trinidad and Tobago, 5.2 percent; Barbados, 4.2 percent; Bahamas, 4.1 percent; and Guyana, 4 percent.
FDI for SVG, in US dollars, for the years 2005 to 2015 were listed as follows: 2005 to 2009, US $183 million; 2010, US $127 million; 2011, US $100 million; 2012, US $78 million; 2013, US $95 million; 2014, US $93 million; and 2015, US $95 million.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in his 2017 budget presentation, said he anticipates FDI in 2017 will amount to approximately US $100 million, accounting for one-half of the estimated capital investments of US $200 million in private investment (local and foreign) and public investment (central government and state entities).
