CDB President, Dr. Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon
The sixth President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr. Hyginus ‘Gene’ Leon, and his Senior Advisor, Ms. Andrea Powers, were in Anguilla last week on a working visit.
They met on Thursday 16th March, 2023, at the Teachers Resource Centre, with members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, personnel from the Anguilla Development Board and, particularly, with business owners who have an interest in enhancing the projected outcomes of their business ventures.
In his business-related lecture, Dr. Leon highlighted the relationship between the public sector and the private sector, as represented by Government – with government agencies and business owners/managers respectively. In essence, he outlined necessary principles that must be adhered to in order to have a successful business outlook.
“It is time to create a new public-private partnership in the interest of national development,” Dr. Leon said. “The kind of issues that we face in the region are so large, and require so much resources and implementation capacity, that there is no way that the public sector – given the state where they are in – can take the region to a new level.”
“And so we want to rebrand this as a partnership between the public and private sector where, fundamentally, the focus moves from the public or private sector to a national space,” he said. “This [ideal] requires dialogue, shared understanding and shared agreement, and it is the responsibility of all sectors of the society.”
“This [ideal] must transcend political parties, because the big issue is that governments in the region distinguish themselves by doing things totally different,” he articulated. “For example, when something is started in one administration and if there is a change in government, the next administration puts it aside and may do something different. This results in policy uncertainty in the minds of the entire private sector.”
“But,” he said, “we need to make a switch and agree on one, two or three [prospects] that are important and that are beyond the boundaries of political parties – prospects that should be embraced beyond electoral cycles. Such prospects should act as anchors; and you can say these are what the country agrees on.”
“If this happens,” he said, “then you will have nationally agreed upon anchors and both the public sector and the private sector would be working in harmony towards the same goal.”
“So, I would re-label this kind of national arrangement as ‘Partnership for Prosperity and Profits,” Dr. Leon observed.
Following his address, Dr. Leon was asked several questions by members of the audience. The questions mostly addressed the issues relative to government’s responsibility in facilitating policies for business ventures to thrive successfully in the society.
In response the CDB President emphasized that both the private sector, as it relates to business, and Government have to share the responsibilities.
He said that if the private sector works with the public sector in harmony towards the same goals, then both sectors can work towards bridging the distrust that exist across the region, where the private sector sees government as the arch enemy, who does not allow them to do what they want, and government sees the private sector as being greedy in making a ton of profits.
“It is essential,” he stressed, “for the private sector and the public sector to work together for common goals of advancing the people in promoting sustainable livelihoods.”
In other CDB news, the deadline for its Future Leaders Network (FLN) had been re-scheduled to Monday 20th March, 2023.
Young people from Anguilla and the other CDB borrowing member countries, who are between the ages of 18 to 35, were given the opportunity to qualify to participate in the FLN.
The FLN is intended to be a key mechanism to advance the priority areas of the CDB’s work and presents an opportunity for a diverse group of young women and men to influence and guide development discourse in the Bank.
