Basseterre, St. Kitts, October 06, 2017 (SKNIS): A team from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has wrapped up a series of meetings facilitated by the Ministry of Finance at which a new country strategy paper was discussed. The CDB team comprised Director of the Economics Department, Dr. Justine Ram and Economist, Stephan Maier.
According to Dr. Ram, their assessments were based on the development needs in St. Kitts and Nevis and took into consideration the national adaptation strategy. There are also plans to develop an accompanying implementation plan.
“We have made a commitment to work with the government on both St. Kitts and Nevis to assist with the development of a new plan going forward, as well as to assist in whatever way possible [that] we could with the implementation of those objectives,” Dr. Ram said.
Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Hilary Hazel, thanked the team. She said that the document would determine which areas of development were priorities for St. Kitts and Nevis and on which projects the government should partner with the CDB. She added that it would also be used over the next several years from 2017-2021 once approved.
“We expect, here in St. Kitts and Nevis, that the Caribbean Development Bank team would progress the work on the strategy paper and hopefully be presented for approval at the sitting of the CDB Board in December 2017, so starting early in January we’ll be able to use this document as the blue print, as our guide for our partnership going forward and so we are confident because CDB has been a long-standing, strong partner with the government in the past and we are only creating new opportunities for an even stronger relationship going forward,” Ms. Hazel said.