The Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry is engaged in working towards assisting with the economic development of the island.
The organisation’s objectives were articulated byPresidentKeithleyLakein an address delivered on Tuesday this week at the Chamber’s 8th Annual General Meeting held at theAnguillaCommunity College.
“The Chamber, in furtherance of its objectives, remains hopeful and optimistic in the future of business and economic activity inAnguilla. Our administrative staff has worked tirelessly over the past year to address a number of concerns important to our membership,” he said. “We already see the benefits of their efforts. We continue to interact with the Government to develop and promote conditions, and promote initiatives, of importance to our membership.
“We agree that the economic conditions are not exclusively or solely a problem for Government to resolve. Instead, we will redouble our efforts to assist them in every way to improve the economy. We nonetheless challenge Government to be bold in their initiatives and look outside the proverbial box to embrace policies that will further invigorate the economy.”
An address was delivered by the President of the St. Maarten Chamber of Commerce, Arthur Bute, who was accompanied by Executive Director, Claret Connor. Mr.Bute spoke about the work of his organisation.
“The Chamber of Commerce of St. Maarten went on a mission to see what it can do, with Government, to create more public/private partnerships,” he stated. “In days like today, no country can move forward without partnership with the private sector – and the private sector cannot move forward without Government. If you have a plan in the private sector, you need approval from Government to make that plan work.”
Mr. Bute observed that there was a need for Chambers of Commerce in all the islands to work together to achieve economic growth particularly at this time of world recession. He was pleased that his Chamber, and that ofAnguilla, were cooperating in various areas and looked forward to continued collaboration and success in their initiatives.
During the latter part of the meeting,Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Hubert Hughes, was given the opportunity to speak. He declared thatAnguillalacked a constitution which would guarantee the island’s independence and result in its economic growth.
“Constitutionally, we are the most backward place in the Caribbean and I think the recent creation in Dutch St. Maarten, where they have a Council of Ministers and a Prime Minister, should be something that Anguillians should welcome,” Mr. Hughes said. “We have a lot of bush philosophers, and bush lawyers, who would tell you thatAnguillashould not go for constitutional advance. This is where we are losing out even economically. There is a lot more that we can do economically if we were to have a democratic system of Government which we do not have at the present time.
“We have what is called an ‘oligarchy of power’ where all powers are in the hands of a British civil servant in the form of a diplomat, and he interferes and justifies this interference by saying the constitution permits him to do that. We have a constitution which says that one man cannot be taken to court for all the offences he may commit. That is serious, so basically our constitution is a deterrent to economic advancement.
“Our tourism industry is dying at the hands of a Governor, so you will understand we can’t do bilateral trade with any other country once we have the present constitution in place. So there is need for a serious debate on a constitution and that affects everything else, including the viability of the Chamber of Commerce. For us to develop the vast tourism potential we have, and the human resource ofAnguilla, we must advance constitutionally.
“The fact that we don’t have an airport to bring in tourists today has been a result of the objections by the British. When the French Chamber of Commerce in Guadeloupe wanted to build an airport inAnguilla, the British objected to it. When we were offered water and electricity across the eight-mile geographical strip of water between these two territories, the British objected to it…The things they objected to were basically wrong, so basically we need to discuss our constitution and have an answer as soon as possible.”
Parliamentary Secretary, Haydn Hughes, who also attended the meeting, spoke briefly from the floor on tourism and other matters, including access toAnguilla.
Earlier, the Treasurer Report for the Anguilla Chamber was presented by Felicia Hill and the Auditor’s Report was delivered by Ravi Bahadur-Singh of Merit JVS Associates.
There was an election of officers following which all of the Board members were returned as follows:KeithleyLake, President; Dr. Louis Bardfield; Felicia Hill, Vida Lloyd-Richardson; and Carlton Pickering. Two new members were elected to replace John Benjamin who retired and Arlene Ross-Daisley who has returned to her homeland. They are Mark Romney, General Manager, LIMEAnguilla; and ShermaBlaize of C.R. & Associates. Ravi Bahadur-Singh was also re-elected as Auditor.
