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Contact:
John Emmanuel
Tuesday, March 09, 2004 - The Ministry of Commerce, Investment and
Consumer Affairs has joined forces with the St. Lucia Chamber of Commerce
Industry and Agriculture and other stakeholders, in an attempt to put in place
an Integrated National Export Development Strategy for St. Lucia. The process,
which has been underway for the past two-years, was taken one step further on
Monday, 8th March 2004 with the staging of a national symposium at the Green
Parrot Hotel situated at La Toc.
Addressing participants, who came from a wide cross section of the industrial
and manufacturing sector, Executive Director of the Chamber Mr. Brian Louisy,
said that the grouping remained convinced that one of the things impacting
negatively on the local economy has been the slowdown in export. He pointed out
that one could trace from as far back as the days of sugar, coal, bananas and
tourism, St. Lucas’s export led growth.
This, he told his audience had changed not entirely due to a noticeable lack of
export, but because “export-led growth was no longer sexy”. Mr. Louisy made it
clear that the rational behind this latest initiative was to make export-led
growth the theme and driving force behind St. Lucia’s future economic
development. “This process, we are hoping will make such terms and ideas sexy
once again so that people can buy into it”, said the Chamber’s long serving
Executive Director.
The preparation of the strategy comes at an opportune time for St. Lucia, as the
island through the Ministry of Commerce and Investment continues trade
negotiations with groupings like the Caribbean Single Market and Economy,
(CSME), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and wider Europe.
Commerce and Investment Minister Honourable Philip J. Pierre said that given the
changing face of trade the world over and its impacts on the local agriculture
export market, new methodologies and modalities needed to be developed, if the
country was to survive and remain competitive in this era of free trade.
St. Lucia he lamented, finds itself having to compete with countries that
possess greater economies of scale, coupled with large and wide open spaces and
relatively cheap labour. Such conditions he noted, had led to cheaper bananas
flooding the world market and curtailing growth in the local banana sector. “We
cannot lie down and die”, he told some of the country’s leading manufacturers at
the one-day symposium.
As a remedy, the Commerce Minister indicated that the country needed to speed up
its efforts at diversification, which in itself had given rise to initiatives
leading to the development of a national export strategy. “We must find ways and
means to make St. Lucia’s export competitive, placing them at an affordable
price”, he said, noting that success on that front was contingent on the
country’s ability to deal with the vast world market and the phenomenon of free
trade.
Last year some 38% of St. Lucia’s manufacturing output, specifically food and
beverage were exported, with officials hoping to up that figure significantly
come the next five years. Monday’s exercise received assistance from the
International Trade Centre (ITC) in the person of consultant Anton Said.
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