CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – The St. Lucia government Monday said it had made suggestions to governments in the sub-regional Organisation with Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) with Citizenship by Investment programs (CBI) to strengthen further a regional, regional agreement they have signed recently.
In a statement, Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre said that Castries has proposed legislative changes to address change of name requests and that the leaders of the other countries have agreed to this.
Apart from St. Lucia, the other OECS countries with a CBI program are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, and St. Kitts-Nevis.
Under the CBI program, foreign investors are granted citizenship in the country in return for making a substantial investment in the socio-economic development of those countries.
Pierre said that after careful review and extensive discussions with stakeholders and other OECS leaders with CBI programs, St. Lucia agreed to sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) already signed by other OECS CBI countries.
He said the MOU calls for pricing, information sharing, transparency standards, regulation, security screening, framework, regulation, dispute resolution, amendment, and termination.
Pierre said the agreement to strengthen the CBI programs further calls for an annual quota, a net worth for applicants, and escrow accounts to be held in St. Lucia or the individual islands.
He said a requirement is that only licensed promoters will be allowed to submit applicants to local authorized agents, and these promoters will have to submit a due diligence report on each applicant.
Pierre said over the last year, the Citizenship by Investment Unit has instituted all six principles agreed to with the United States government, including a ban on applicants from Russians and Belarusians and an operational review of the program by an international consultancy firm, which will commence shortly.
Pierre said that St. Lucia will seek international support to recover revoked passports. The St. Lucia CBI Unit publishes an annual report that is tabled in Parliament and includes audited financial statements.
“Furthermore, the fee structure for different options is published in the Official Gazette. The government of St. Lucia remains committed to maintaining and reinforcing the integrity of its CBI program with a transparent and accountable process that delivers tangible benefits to all St. Lucians,” Pierre added.
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