The Grenada Chamber of Industry & Commerce held its annual AGM on Tuesday July 27 with a large
turnout from the business community. Outgoing President Mr. Justin Evans thanked the Board and its
members for their support throughout his one year term of office. He stated the importance of settling
membership dues to support the work of the Chamber and encouraged everyone to get involved in the
activities for a healthier private sector. Mrs. Lucia Livingston-Andall, Treasurer, made a report on the
financial statements and while the Chamber made a minor loss in the last financial year, the prospects
for the upcoming year were good. She added that the Junior Achievement was financially sound and in
the three years that the Chamber has been running the programme, it has proven to be viable.
Incoming President Mr. Cedric Mitchell inspired the membership with a visionary speech on focusing on
the positives in the economy and investing now in Grenada while the economic recovery is underway
after the worldwide global financial crisis. He reaffirmed that the Chamber will continue to advocate for
the private sector and work in partnership with the Government of Grenada and other stakeholders to
achieve growth plans and create more jobs.
Aaron Moses, Representative of Government and a past President of the Chamber, gave a presentation
on the new OECS Economic Union, the reasons why and the benefits to Grenada of such an integration
of economic activity. He also said that the currency union was already well established in the OECS
common market which is one of the biggest hurdles in any economic union. Grenadians should expect
the Union to take effect from January 2011 with a New Assembly and a Commissioner from each
market.
Michael Julien, Economic Consultant, presented his proposal on rethinking Grenada’s Strategy and going
beyond conventional tourism. His main thrust was that foreign direct investment in hotels did not bring
the returns to the economy due to high concessions given to tourism projects to attract them to the
island in the first instance. Ideally he would prefer if the powers that be focused on encouraging
investment in medical tourism, sports and entertainment, marinas and attracting highly skilled
foreigners to live and operate from this country. The spending power for 4000 foreign residents is
equivalent to bringing in 100,000 tourists and their long term ripple effects on the economy are
substantially higher than cruise and stay over tourists. In the future Grenada needs a larger population
base to grow consumption which ultimately drives demand for goods and services for all local
businesses.
The AGM concluded with the election of the new board for the year 2010/11 and the following Directors
were re-elected:, Andrew Millet, Dr. Reginald Buckmire, Isabelle Slinger, Leslie-Ann Seon, Lucia
Livingston-Andall, Michelle Peters and Patricia Maher. New Directors joining the Board are: Aine
Brathwaite, Nicholas Steele, Simon Stiell and Wayne James. The evening’s event was hosted by
Executive Director Mrs. Hazel-Ann Hutchinson who thanked the outgoing Board Members for their
support. Also in attendance was her predecessor Chris De Riggs who now runs the Office of Private
Sector Development in the Ministry of Finance and former Past Presidents Darryl Brathwaite and Nigel
John.