‘We are well placed to act as a bridge or gateway between the UAE and the Western Hemisphere’ — PM of St Kitts and Nevis

Suchitra Steven Samuel

St Kitts and Nevis is so tiny that it is often diffi-cult to find on a world map. It is a federal two-island state in the West

Indies, the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population. However, the government has nonetheless created a nation, and society of very high standards — complete respect for human rights; no po-litical prisoners; free, fair, and regular elections; 98 per cent lit-eracy; world-class air, sea, and telecommunications infrastruc-ture and consistently positive re-views by the IMF and other inter-national financial institutions. The country’s Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr Denzil L. Douglas shared his thoughts in an inter-view with Khaleej Times in Dubai. The excerpts:

What steps are being taken to expand ties between St Kitts and Nevis and the UAE?

The establishment of formal dip-lomatic relations with the UAE, and our appointment of a Consul General in Dubai are concrete

Interested in mutually beneficial collaboration

steps that we have taken to strengthen the ties between the UAE and our federation. We ex-pect that these important initia-tives will play a catalytic role in fostering cultural ties, investment flows, trade in goods and services (especially tourism and possibly offshore education services) and strengthen cultural ties between the two countries.

Do you believe that St Kitts and Nevis can be a gateway for com-panies from the UAE?

Certainly. St Kitts and Nevis is ideally located in that it is very close to North American, South American and Caribbean nations. We also speak English as our mother tongue and we are in the same time zone as many Ameri-can and Canadian cities. We are therefore well placed to act as a bridge or gateway between the

UAE and the Western Hemi-sphere, especially in relation to investment and trade in goods and services.

Could you elaborate on the eco-nomic citizenship programme? How would you screen appli-cants for economic citizenship?

All applicants are subject to very thorough due diligence investiga-tions to confirm the accuracy of the information and documents that they submit in support of their application, to ensure that they have not been involved in any criminal activities (including money laundering and terrorist financing), and to satisfy the Government of St Kitts and Nev-is that they are fit and proper per-sons for citizenship and are not likely to bring disrepute to our Federation.

The islands are beautiful. What is your government doing to prioritise travel and tourism?

We are on a massive drive to en-hance our tourism-related infra-structure and to allocate more resources to the marketing of our destination. We believe that the expansion of our ties with other nations such as the UAE and the continuation of the citizenship by Investment Programme, will give St Kitts and Nevis more visibility internationally.

St Kitts has a lot to offer in terms of places that corporations would want to put money. How are you planning to attract For-eign Direct Investment?

We already have a very generous

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Adrian Thompson is an approved service provider for the St Kitts Citizenship by Investment Programme and the senior partner at Benjamin & Thompson Law Office located in St Kitts and Nevis.

“We have acted for clients from various parts of the world, however, the largest concentrations of clients seeking Citizenship by Investment come from Asia and the Middle East,” says Adrian Thompson, Attorney-at-Law, practicing for more than 16 years. “Applications for Citizenship by Investment can only be submitted through Government-approved service providers and we are one of them. We assist our clients at every stage of the process. We also assist our clients in selecting suitable property that meets their requirements, preparing all the necessary documents relating to their citizenship application and in the end

receiving their passports on their behalf.”

Some parts of the world today are so volatile that alternative citizenship and residency is now like an insurance package. For persons in troubled and overpopulated countries, it is the one thing that gives them peace of mind and assures them an alternative location in the event their home country should erupt in turmoil or become unstable. Economic citizenship is a boon to such people.

Economic citizenship programmes can be sustainable over the long term once it is closely regulated. “The Government of St Kitts and Nevis has done an excellent job at regulating the programme and using it as a vehicle to attract foreign direct investment. Many of the citizenship approved real estate developers have shareholders and investors who have obtained Citizenship by Investment and later recognised the benefits of investing in St Kitts and Nevis,” said Thompson.

Citizenship by Investment Programmes attracts foreign direct investment to the country

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tax and duty concessions that would be attractive to foreign in-vestors. In addition we have leg-islation providing for a range of corporate vehicles that facilitates investment in or from St Kitts and Nevis. These include compa-nies, exempt companies, IBC’s, Trusts, Foundations and captive insurance companies.

Do you see St Kitts and Nevis evolving as a trading hub in the next decade?

The focus in St Kitts and Nevis is

on the development of services, especially financial, investment and educational services. But we certainly believe that as we foster closer ties with countries such as the UAE, we could emerge as an important hub in respect to trade links between such countries and North and South America.

What further steps are you tak-ing to advance business rela-tionships?

We analyse the global landscape very carefully, and we identify

those nations and business inter-ests where we think the potential exists for true symbiosis. Once we identify these possibilities we explore them and attempt to es-tablish mutually beneficial rela-tionships. And then of course, as you would imagine, foreign busi-nesses often take the initiative on their own as well. In those cases, we undertake our due dili-gence, and then proceed from that point.

— suchitra@khaleejtimes.com

From left to right: Patrice Nisbett, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Homeland Security, Labour, Justice and Legal Affairs; Rt. Hon. Dr Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis; K Alex Woodley, Consul General and Elvis Newton, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Dubai. — Kt Photos by Shihab

Rt. Hon. Dr Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister of St Kitts and Nevis