In a brief press conference on Thursday, February 20th, the Indian High Commissioner to the Caribbean, Dr. K.J. Srinivasa, provided an update on the prospects of India having closer relations with Anguilla.
Following his first trip to Anguilla last December when he held explanatory talks with Government Officials and the Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Srinivasa returned on Wednesday February 19th on a one-day stint for the purpose of holding follow-up discussions with officials in an effort to concretize plans for meaningful India/Anguilla relations.
During the Thursday morning press meeting, Dr. Srinivasa stated: “I am pleased to be back in Anguilla as a follow-up to my first visit in December. Yesterday, I have had good meetings with His Excellency Governor Foy, the Deputy Governor, and Premier Banks, as well as with the Permanent Secretary for Public Administration — and the officials who are responsible for dealing with the various scholarships which India is now poised to offer Anguillians.”
He went on: “We have been reviewing the progress on the scholarships, in particular, and we have found that we need to give more impetus to the scholarship team. To this end, we will be advertizing on radio stations, and in the local newspaper, which would highlight India’s offerings in various areas of study.”
He mentioned that in recent times he had been able to work very closely with other countries which had accepted the offer of the scholarships and that his Government had increased the scholarships quota to those said countries. He reported: “In Guyana, for example, we have been able to increase our scholarships from 24 to 50; in Antigua we have increased from 3 to 14; and in St. Kitts we have moved from 2 to 11.
“So we see that Anguilla is lagging behind, and we would encourage Anguillians to get on board. Initially, we are offering 5 scholarships to Anguilla annually. These scholarships are in areas of IT, Management, Finance, Accounting, Journalism, Project Management, Renewable Energy and Disaster Management.”
Dr. Srinivasa made it clear that the scholarships will be fully funded by India. Notwithstanding the newness of the programme, he said that he was hopeful that Anguilla will soon follow suit like these other countries.
He stated that India has a great interest in the Caribbean area, and was currently working on various projects that have India’s interest. He mentioned the oil reserves in Guyana, for example. “In the past, India used to import quite a lot of oil from Venezuela,” he said, “but because of US sanctions against Venezuela, we are no longer importing Venezuela’s oil. Therefore, we are now viewing Guyana as our oil source in the Caribbean.”
Dr. Srinivasa noted that India was working very closely with St. Kitts, Antigua, as well as Guyana to improve the renewable energy concept, and that it had also affiliated itself with these countries in the pharmaceutical sector and in the food processing sector. He observed: “We feel that once these various Indian manufacturers come to the Caribbean, they can manufacture locally and export duty free to the whole Caribbean, taking advantage of the region’s free-trade zones.”
With regard to food processing, he noted that quite recently CARICOM had introduced a project inviting experts in fisheries from India. “We have achieved quite a lot in the area of fisheries in India over that last four decades,” he said, “and we are more than willing to share this expertise with the people of the Caribbean.”
Dr. Srinivasa mentioned; “Right now we are having discussions with the Anguilla Government to work with Anguilla in areas of wastewater treatment, water desalination, and solar energy.” He said that climate change was a prominent issue in his discussions with Government officials — the day before — and it was a subject that was very close to the heart of the Governor and the Premier, especially after the onslaught of Hurricane Irma.
“We are also working on India’s relationship with Anguilla in the area of sports,” Dr. Srinivasa noted. “Sports is very dear to the heart of the Premier. So we are working closely with the Cricket West Indies organization to enhance Anguilla’s participation in the sport.
Finally, Dr. Srinivasa focused on Culture. He remarked: “India is very rich in culture, and we would like to get our cultural troupes here one day to perform for the Anguillian people as a form of entertainment and exposure.” He said they were working very closely with the St. Kitts /Nevis Government in culture, and noted that in July, for Nevis’ Culturama, he will be sending a dance team to the event, and it will be performing in St. Kitts as well. He said seeing that Anguilla’s Summer Festival is in August, after Nevis’ Culturama, the possibility exists that the Indian dance team may well have the opportunity to perform in Anguilla as well.
On his recent trip, Dr.Srinivasa was accompanied by Indian Counselor, K. Vijayakumar, whom he referred to as his “right hand man”. Both of them left Anguilla later in the day, Thursday, February 20th, en route to Antigua.
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
