Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr. Timothy Harris and Mr. Michael Morton, President of St Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC), welcomed visiting delegates and local business community to the reception held at the Ocean Terrance Inn (OTI).

Members of the Birmingham, UK, Florence, Italy, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis CICs were all in attendance of the one-day reception.

The partnership is being led by the Birmingham Chamber of Industry and Commerce and involves capacity building of CICs in the northeastern Caribbean, thereby strengthening their ability to serve their membership, enhance their viability and competitiveness.

In welcoming the invitees at the reception, Dr Harris said that he was quite pleased by the development of the partnership. He noted that the local CIC had taken some positive steps to enhance the knowledge and participation of its members in issues of fiscal policy and trade and Dr Harris commended them for this.

He urged that the private sector should prepare itself to play a bigger role in the economic, stimulating growth, employment and a better quality of life.

Noting that governments in Europe and elsewhere were following austerity programmes in the face of high indebtedness, he suggested that as governments withdrew from the economy the private sector must do even more to keep the economy afloat.