Invest TCI hosted its 3rd Annual Economic Conference on Tuesday, 24th May. It was held under the theme: Strengthening Our Domestic Investment Landscape. The Keynote Speakers of this year’s event was Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance, Honorable Erwin Jay Saunders, Director of Tourism Linkages Network, Carolyn McDonald-Riley, and Chief Executive Officer (Acting) Invest TCI, Angela Musgrove.
The Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Hon. Charles Washington Misick was also a speaker at this prestigious event. He expressed his pleasure in being able to participate in the third annual economic conference. The last economic conference which held by Invest TCI was held in 2019. He said, therefore, that it is great to be able to meet again this year until favorable circumstances.
It was mentioned in his speech that it is important to acknowledge the environment and what the challenges are. Hon Misick thanked those people who are involved in the Climate Change contract, which was signed during the Climate Change Summit, saying that it is important that those people ensure that the objectives are met.
He said that currently there are six projects which are running concurrently that create the business environment to make these islands a sustainable and successful place to invest and live. He mentioned that one project is currently investing in the airports which he said, “is literally hundreds of millions of dollars.”
The Premier added that another project focuses on the population landscape to ensure that people have a right to live here and benefit from being in this country. Additionally, there is a major project which focuses on housing and the issues surrounding the lack of housing within the country.
Premier Misick went on to say that it is his duty to level the playing field between Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Growth within the islands. The regulatory framework must consider economic fairness and level playing field, the Premier said, but it currently achieves neither. He stated that it currently frustrates foreign investors and does not support or encourage direct domestic investment.
He explained that over the last 50 years, the TCI government adopted an economic policy which focused primarily on Foreign Direct Investment. This, he said, has resulted in a flow of monies reflecting billions of dollars invested in what he termed a sleeping archipelago which has now transformed into one that is awakening.
“However, the gap between the economic growth of the islands and the development of its people requires addressing by an appropriate policy document”, Premier Misick stated. Insert 6:40 – 7:00
In Cue: there is therefore the need for an investment model…
Out Cue: the time for that must come to an end.
The Hon. Premier added that the government will draft and implement a new policy which will focus on including Turks and Caicos Islanders as investors in the growing TCI economy to access industry capital.
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