An Act to amend the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency Act Cap. 20.26 otherwise known as the St. Kitts Investment Promotion Agency Bill, 2022, was successfully passed in the Federal Parliament after much debate on Thursday, October 27, 2022.

Mover of the Bill and Minister responsible for Investment, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas described the amendment as simple, but significantly important.

“The Bill, therefore, that is before us is of extreme importance. I have taken time to whet the appetites of my colleagues who will come after me, but also to give guidance to the citizens of our country that the Government is not yet three months old but it is fast at work on their behalf because there is a lot of work to be done especially in the area of investment,” said the Right Honourable Dr. Douglas.

Minister Douglas said that the successful passage of the Bill will create opportunities for job creation.

“We have to create opportunities for investment and that is why I give credit to the Prime Minister, [the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew] for selecting this piece of legislation to be the first to be debated in our Parliament because it is all about job creation, getting our people working,” said Dr. Douglas. “Remove the people from STEP dependence, remove the people from the gang dependency and put them to work and this is going to facilitate…this piece of legislation is going to go a long way in ensuring that those policies which we spoke about during the campaign, that they come to fruition. This piece of legislation is critical. It is a very simple piece of legislation that is short but critically important.”

The Bill was supported by members on both sides of the aisle.