Published 16 November 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Timothy Harris avoids regional leaders and IMF officials meeting in Jamica
Kingston, Jamaica, November 15, 2017 – In order to avoid coming face to face with Caribbean leaders and IMF officials, St. Kitts and Nevis’ Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris is skipping a meeting in Jamaica of regional heads of government, finance ministers, central bank governors, and private-sector representatives at the sixth International Monetary Fund (IMF) High-level Caribbean forum to be held at the Jamaica Pegasus on Thursday.
The forum, to be held under the theme, Unleashing Growth and Strengthening Resilience in the Caribbean, will focus on issues impacting the region and the potential opportunities within the context of an ever-changing global landscape.
Jamaica’s prime minister, Hon. Andrew Holness, and IMF managing director, Christine Lagarde, are the keynote speakers at the opening ceremony.
During the forum, four discussions will be held featuring presentations by a wide cross section of local, regional and international stakeholders.
The first will focus on The Caribbean Growth Challenge: Crime and Youth Unemployment.
The others will cover Fiscal Policy and Political Cycles, The Financial Sector: Stability and Growth Trade-offs, and Challenges and Opportunities in the Caribbean.
The last will feature presentations by Prime Minister Holness and the prime ministers of St. Lucia, Allen Chastanet; Grenada, Dr Keith Mitchell; and Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley.
Jamaica previously hosted the IMF forum in 2014 in Montego Bay.
The Jamaica meeting is one of several high-level meetings that Prime Minister Harris has missed.
These include the IV CARICOM-Mexico Summit, in Belize and the International Emigration & Luxury Property Expo in Cannes, France last month.
He was also absent from the 28th CARICOM Inter-Sessional Meeting in Guyana; the 2nd Annual Citizenship by Investment Meeting hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, the 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in the Turks and Caicos Islands; the PANNCAP Regional Parliamentarians Forum in Kingston, Jamaica of which he is the PANCAP Chair and the 42nd Regional Conference of the Caribbean, the Americas and the Atlantic Region of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) held in Basseterre, St. Kitts in June.
Dr. Harris also skipped the annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in his capacity as Minister of Finance in Washington, DC in October.
He also missed meetings with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the US Treasury Department, the Caribbean Partners Dialogue on Hurricanes with the Organisation of American States (OAS); the World Bank-CARICOM meeting, the Small States Forum and the CARICOM and the Virgin Group discussion.
Photo: Dr. Timothy Harris
