European Union Confident in Saint Lucia
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European Union Confident in Saint Lucia
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Contact: Shannon Lebourne
Wednesday, May 16, 2012 – The European Union (EU) says it is confident in the management of Saint Lucia. Ever since 1975 the Union of twenty-seven independent Euro states has invested more money in Saint Lucia`s economy than any other Caribbean country. To date the EU investment in St Lucia is estimated at $150 million Euros.
EU Ambassador to the Caribbean His Excellency Valeriano Diaz says there are several factors which influences such a large scale of investment. “Every five years, the EU establishes financial protocols and a number of financial allocations are assigned to each country based on population and poverty. Saint Lucia is a banana producing country and since the change in the banana regime there has been an increase in funding to Saint Lucia, even if it has been difficult to manage the great number of projects we have funded here. In recent times the Government of Saint Lucia has successfully absorbed the funds assigned and that has allowed for a smooth flow of funding in successive financial protocols. The fact the monies has been managed efficiently has also helped in the allocation of new funding.”
The Country Strategy Paper for Saint Lucia (2008-2013) presents the strategic framework for the co-operation between the European Commission (EC) and Saint Lucia under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF).
EC assistance under the 10th EDF mainly concentrates on private sector development to assist the government with the implementation of policies and strategies aimed at achieving private sector-led growth.
All EU projects in Saint Lucia
tackle cross-cutting issues such as democracy, good governance, human rights,
the rights of children, gender, environment and HIV/AIDS. On May 9th the European Union celebrated Europe Day here in Saint Lucia. While on island, the delegation visited the New National Hospital one of their largest projects in the Caribbean. According to Ambassador Diaz, the decision to observe Europe Day in Saint Lucia and more so at the site of the new National Hospital is testimony that the European Union delivers. “This hospital, the largest of our infrastructure projects in the Caribbean, has been constructed at a cost of EC$130 million. Apart from the physical building, the EU is also funding the provision of equipment for the facility. This process is still at the tendering stage. The colleagues, both at headquarters and in the region, are proud of their participation in making this project a reality, which when opened will be the most modern hospital in the Caribbean. It will consist of state of the art equipment, an emergency centre, an intensive care unit, operating theatres, paediatric centre and radiography department all served by cutting-edge technology that is expected of modern health care facility.”
The conceptualisation of the hospital project dates back about a decade ago when the government of Saint Lucia decided to rationalise the country’s health sector so as to ensure optimum delivery of health care to the population. The Government of Saint Lucia also recognised that the Victoria Hospital which had served the nation for more than one hundred years had become obsolete in delivering 21st century health care. “Along the way there were some setbacks but both the government of Saint Lucia and the European Union persevered and as they say ‘the rest is history.’ In the framework of its 10th European Development Fund, the EU will support Saint Lucia’s health sector reform programme with an amount of almost 7million Euros starting early 2013 for a period of four years.” The EU official explained.
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