“We will deliver to the People of Saint Lucia!”

Saint Lucia Prime Minister Honourable Allen M. Chastanet gave an extensive and passionate presentation to the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce on Thursday November 15th 2018 as he addressed a packed room of members of the local business sector. The broad discussion touched on a variety of areas including infrastructure, health care, education and economic development.

The Prime Minister began by updating the Chamber on current and proposed development projects for Saint Lucia, starting from the north to the south of the island. Among the projects: the planned expansion of major hotels in the Rodney Bay and Gros Islet area, new tourism projects for the Choc area, the expansion of Saint Lucia Distillers, the construction of the Fairmont Hotel in Choiseul and the DSH Pearl of the Caribbean Project. The Prime Minister also spoke to critical public sector projects such as the redevelopment of Hewanorra International Airport, the redevelopment of Castries, rehabilitation of road infrastructure, social programmes and efforts to address the nation’s security.

Photo credit: Saint Lucia Times

“We have come to an agreement with the Taiwanese Government who have agreed to lend us 100 million US dollars to be able to do that project,” explained the Prime Minister, while also adding that the loan is being supported by the airport development charge. An additional $50 Million will be borrowed from Taiwan for major upgrades of existing roads island-wide. The Prime Minister noted that the road rehabilitation charge on gasoline will also be used to service the loan.

When it came to health care, the Prime Minister updated the business community on plans for National Health Insurance, the strengthening of the nation’s primary health care facilities and the phased opening of the OK-EU hospital. With regard to the construction of the St. Jude Hospital the Prime Minister said the designs and the engineering drawings have been completed and funding has been secured for the proposed new wing.

“We are moving as fast as we possible can to rectify that situation,” PM Chastanet said following a recap of the immense missteps which had led the nation to this point. “We know the challenges that exist at the stadium and we are working with the staff as best as we possibly can to make them as comfortable as possible, but we recognize and understand the frustration by both the people who are working there, as well as the citizens who have to depend on it. The fact is we have to do things the right way and I can assure all Saint Lucians that you will be very proud of the development. I am comfortable that once you have all the financing, you have the design completed and you have a great company doing the implementation that you should not see a repeat of what happened the last five years.

The Prime Minister also said that the Government tackling issues concerning the pace of the implementation of programmes and projects and has engaged the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU), which was set up by Malaysia, to assist Saint Lucia in that regard. PEMANDU will be focused on six key areas of Agriculture, Tourism, Infrastructure, Health, Education and Social Development.

Key indicators in the economy have been encouraging, said the Prime Minister, noting that tourism continues to show signs of growth and consumption and economic activity is on the rise.

“We have already seen that with the reduction of the Value Added Tax rate of 12.5 percent we are currently collecting slightly more money than we were collecting when we were at 15 percent,” said PM Chastanet. “So mathematically that tells you that the turnover in the economy is absolutely there.”

Also encouraging, said the Prime Minister, was growth in the Information Technology sector which has seen the creation of 2000 new jobs. He singled out the expansion of KM2 and OJO Labs. The Prime Minister also spoke about the National Apprenticeship Programme and the partnership with Monroe College which will see hundreds of Saint Lucian young people receive hands on hospitality training.

“We continue on course and I am very encouraged,” said the Prime Minister about overall development. “The amount of money that is about to start flowing into this economy and the investment that we are going to be making into the infrastructure of this country . . . there is a lot of work taking place on the ground and we are moving. What we are focused on is developing this country, improving the physical capacity, improving the human capacity and improving the bureaucratic capacity of this country.

“We have been able to attract a record amount of new investment to come into this country. We have taken our time to be responsible and ensure the EIAs are done and we follow the law and to make sure it is going to benefit every Saint Lucian,” noted PM Chastanet, who also highlighted support to local entrepreneurs through the St Lucia Development Bank, training opportunities for young people, development and reenergizing of youth programmes. “We are calm, cool, collected and focused and we will deliver to the people of Saint Lucia.”

As he closed his presentation, which included questions from the attendees, PM Chastanet explained that the plan of Building a New Saint Lucia where all can benefit is the priority.

 


Source: Saint Lucia Times

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Government of Saint Lucia calls for projects under the key result areas of tourism and agriculture

Honourable Guy Joseph, Minister for Economic Development, Housing, Urban Renewal, Transport and Civil Aviation launched Saint Lucia’s Social and Economic Labs.

The lab methodology is a new approach which the government is undertaking to develop and deliver on the Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) for 2019-2022, with the aim to achieve an inclusive and sustainable Saint Lucia by 2022. This project is supported by the Caribbean Development Bank through a Technical Assistance Loan to the Government of Saint Lucia.

The process began in April 2018, when Saint Lucia’s Cabinet and senior officials from the public service, together with representatives from the private sector, prioritised six (6) Key Results Areas (KRAs) to focus on. The six KRAs comprise three (3) Economic KRAs, which are Tourism, Agriculture and Infrastructure, and three (3) Social KRAs, which are Healthcare, Education and Crime. Collectively, these sectors represent some of the most important areas that impact the lives of every Saint Lucian.

The Department of Economic Development, Transport and Civil Aviation is the lead sponsor for the labs, and the Government of Saint Lucia is fully committed to the labs.

Phase 1 of this process is the lab phase, which will take place from 19 November to 14 December. During this phase, the labs will identify issues and opportunities, prioritise solutions and develop detailed implementation plans for execution over the next four years. The labs will involve participation of all key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, and the output of the labs will be detailed implementation programmes as well as budget requirements to run the projects and initiatives identified, in order to achieve the aims of the Medium Term Development Strategy (MTDS) 2019-2022.

After the completion of Phase 1, i.e. the lab phase, Phase 2 will commence in January 2019 and will involve the establishment of a Delivery Unit within the Government of Saint Lucia. This unit’s role will be to oversee, coordinate and drive implementation of the plans developed within the labs leading delivery of the prioritized goals across all six KRAs. Ultimately, the Delivery Unit’s mandate will be to manage performance and drive accountability as well as to support implementing ministries and agencies in delivering concrete results that improve the lives of our citizens.

To assist in successful delivery of this new methodology, the Government will be working closely with two leading international consultancies, which are Delivery Associates and PEMANDU Associates. These two firms have worked with Governments around the world to improve their effectiveness at delivering real, measurable outcomes for their citizens. The Government of Saint Lucia is excited to partner with them over the next 15 months.

As part of the labs, the Government of Saint Lucia is putting out a call for projects under the Economic Key Results Areas of Tourism and Agriculture.

The project areas under the Tourism KRA are international hotel brands interested in investing in Saint Lucia, cruise operators looking to make Saint Lucia a home port, Health and Wellness Tourism, Village Tourism and Eco Tourism.

The project areas under the Agriculture KRA are production of foods as a means of import substitution, food processing projects, production of high value, high yield crops that encourage crop diversification and production of staple crops.

 

By Government Information Service
Source: Saint Lucia News Online

 

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Youth employment in Ethiopia

At the initiation of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Big Win Philanthropy is developing a partnership with the Ethiopian government to create 1 million quality jobs for young people.

With a large and rapidly growing youth population, generating productive youth employment is an urgent priority for Ethiopia to improve young people’s lives, build social stability and realize the potential economic benefit of a demographic dividend. Seventy per cent of Ethiopia’s population is under the age of 30, and by 2020 13 million young people will be seeking jobs. To add to the challenge, many of those who are in work are not earning enough to lift themselves out of poverty.

The partnership will aim to create quality jobs – skilled, secure, and with decent pay and conditions. There are many challenges to employment creation, including a mismatch between the skills of young people and employment opportunities, the availability of basic infrastructure, the availability of investment and the need for coordination between different government sectors.

An important element of success of national and regional employment initiatives is the multisectoral leadership and collaboration required to address systemic labour market challenges, identify areas where cross-cutting consensus is required, and champion innovative approaches. In Ethiopia, this will involve exploring new opportunities for diversifying long-term economic growth in sectors with the best potential to create quality jobs such as health, ICT, agri-business, aviation, and tourism while promoting innovation and entrepreneurship so that the government’s efforts are sustainable.

Youth employment is a top priority for Ethiopia’s new government and will now be championed by H.E. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to ensure alignment of cross-sectoral efforts at the highest political level. In parallel with this national political alignment, the Oromia region will be utilized as a demonstration model for other regions in the country, with work undertaken over a one year period to “unlock” over 1,300 stalled projects which have the potential to create 455,000 jobs.

The initial phase of the partnership will launch with a high-level workshop led by Pemandu Associates and will focus on aligning the program around definitions of “quality jobs”, dealing with issues such as levels of remuneration, stability of employment and working conditions. Pemandu is a consultancy that grew out of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit in the Prime Minister’s Office in Malaysia, and is credited with having played a major role in the successful Malaysian experience of creating employment opportunities for young people.

By Big Win Philanthropy

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