ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Regional governments will meet on Tuesday to discuss the controversial Citizenship by Investment Programme (CBI) that provides citizenship to foreign investors who contribute significantly to these islands’ socio-economic development, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has announced.
Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, Skerrit said that the meeting, which will be virtual, will also involve the leaders of Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts-Nevis, all of whom currently have a CBI program.
“The prime ministers of the countries which operate Citizenship by Investment Programmes, we have decided to convey a meeting….tomorrow by Zoom,” Skerrit told reporters.
“I think the meeting is a very welcome one, and we are all very eager to discuss,” he said, adding that the meeting will discuss the CBI, the opportunities, challenges “and, of course, the global environment in which our CBI programs are operating, all of us recognize how crucial non-tax revenue measure this program is for us.
“So we are meeting to consolidate our efforts and to see some of the things that we can do collectively to place our program in a much stronger position than it currently is, and there are some ideas I am not at liberty to share with you now,” he told the news conference.
Skerrit said Dominica had received EC$458.6 million during the financial year 2021-22 from the CBI, having estimated revenue at EC$463.3 million.
He said the regional leaders would also meet with officials of the United States Treasury Department, acknowledging publicly that Washington “has been very helpful in helping us strengthen our CBI programs.
Skerrit said that late last year, a team from the Treasury Department accepted an invitation “to examine our CBI programs objectively and to see where the strengths are, where the weaknesses are, and what recommendations they have.
“One of the things I suggested to them, and they have accepted, is that for there to be a joint meeting with all of the (Caribbean) countries and not bilateral meetings with each of us…and they have indicated to us, and they are waiting on a date from us as to when to convene that meeting.
“We are also getting that same kind of support from the UK government and the European Union. Hopefully, we will have some discussions with the European Union to examine the objectives in a dispassionate manner where we are.”
Skerrit said the intention is not for these countries to come and speak to the region,” you must do A, B, C, D, F, it is about collectively examining and seeing what action to take to strengthen our CBI programs,” he said, adding that the hopes the meeting s will take place in early February.
Skerrit said that he is “delighted” that every country in the Caribbean with a CBI program “our due diligence processes and the security measures are robust.
“I think there are some things we can do much closer together. I think that we can have, for example, uniform legislation. We also have to look at the application forms to be uniform across the board. I think there can be more of the sharing of information among us in real-time, and we will have some proposals for that”.,
Skerrit maintained that the CBI, which has come under criticism from some European and United States governments as a tax haven, is necessary given the dwindling development assistance to Caribbean countries in recent years.
“The reality is every one of these entities, whether it is the European Union, the United States, or the United Kingdom, understands the importance of this program to our respective economies.
“Our region is a region that is most affected by natural disasters. We have to build resilience. We must develop adaptation in our respective countries so far as the infrastructure is concerned. Development assistance is different from what it used to be many years ago. The amounts are dwindling; even in our countries, because of their economic classification, they cannot attract development assistance or concessionary financing.
“So these countries have to go out to the commercial markets to borrow, and we all know the commercial markets can be expensive, and so every country in the world, from the most advanced economy like the United States to the least advanced economy in the world look at non-tax revenue to raise development assistance,” Skerrit told reporters.
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