St Kitts: The Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis, Dr Terrance Drew delivered the national address on the Citizenship by Investment Programme of the country. The PM took the opportunity to highlight the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party’s plans to help the federation transform into a sustainable island state.
The Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis said that the transformation was highly crucial for the people. He highlighted that they had been highly dependant on the funds generated by the CBI Programme.
PM Drew noted that all their “proverbial economic eggs” were in a single basket as the economy was 60% to 70% reliant on Citizenship by Investment Programme. The Prime Minister acknowledged that the CBI Programme is vulnerable to international politics and scrutiny.
In light of this vulnerability for the nation, PM Drew and his team want to lessen the country’s reliance on CBI. For this reason, the nation has been looking into ways to diversify the economy.
At the same time, the nation has been working hard to make sure that the programme can continue to thrive. He recalled that the during the previous year, the country was on the brink of losing their precious visa free access.
This was because of the previous administration’s mismanagement of the programme. To prevent this fate, the government of St Kitts and Nevis had to take several quick and proactive measures.
These measures not only saved the nation from losing their privilege, but also made sure that the programme emerged stronger. The Prime Minister also recalled that they received their first report of the CBI Programme in October 2022.
This was three months after assuming office in the nation. After receiving the report, the country administration took the comprehensive review of the programme’s rules and regulations. In December 2022, PM Drew travelled to Dubai, the city which he called the epicentre of the global CBI Industry.
While there, PM Drew took the opportunity to announce the major changes that his administration had introduced within the programme. By December 2023, the administration had implemented many reforms under the banner of sustainability and good governance.
PM Terrance Drew highlighted that they introduced a Board of Governors to oversee CIU operations. They implemented a technical committee to review files and for the first time in 40 years criminalized underselling practices.
“We also made it clear to the world that St Kitts and Nevis would lead by example in raising CBI standards” PM Drew announced. “We acted swiftly because we knew what was at stake.” He added
PM Drew recalled that in February 2023 the Federation hosted the historic us Caribbean roundtable on CBI at the Park Hyatt resort. Five Caribbean Prime Ministers along with US Treasury officials and the governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank met.
The aim of the meeting was to establish a new set of principles governing CBI practices across the region. The meeting resulted in the Collective Agreement of the Caribbean CBI Nations on six key principles including
- Standardized treatment of denials.
- Compulsory Virtual or in-person interviews during the due diligence process
- Additional checks through financial intelligence units.
- Independent audits of citizenship by investment units
- Retrieval of cancelled passports
- The suspension of Russian and Belarussian applicants.
These principles were systematically put into practice by all CBI operating OECS states by July 2023
After continuous dialogue with the international Partners we enacted further reforms increasing the minimum qualified investment to US $250,000.
The Prime Minister highlighted that St Kitts and Nevis CBI program has been saved due to the efforts of the government. “Not only have we reestablished it as a leading CBI program in the world but we have also set a new standard of regional cooperation with our OECS colleagues.
The Prime Minister then recalled that in March 2024 we signed a historic memorandum of agreement with the 5 CBI countries in the Caribbean. The MoU was crucial in establishing new reforms that ensure CBI in our region is both ethical and sustainable.
In this regard, it is to be noted that the Drew led administration is trying to drive St Kitts and Nevis’ dependency from CBI to SEED. (SEED stands for Sustainable Economic Expansion and Diversification)
In his address, he shed light on the government’s sustainable island state agenda and highlighted that SEED is a pillar of the said agenda.