“Income in the territory not evenly distributed across the population” – Pickering tells OCTA Ministerial Conference
GIS - Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 9:54 AM
Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources and Labour Dr. Kedrick Pickering (second left) with other delegates of the 2012 OCTA Ministerial Conference in Belgium.
BRUSSELS, Belgium; 23rd January 2012: Heads of Government, fellow heads of delegations, delegates, friends and colleagues: I am delighted to convey to you the good wishes for the success of this Ministerial Conference from the Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Dr. D. Orlando Smith OBE, as well as the entire government and the people of the BVI. I would like to particularly thank OCTA Chairman Premier Ruben Meade of Montserrat, along with OCTA’s Executive Committee, for organising this year’s meeting.
Future Relations Between the OCTs and EU
We as OCTs share common values with the EU. Broadly speaking, we share a respect for human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law, free markets and many other issues that are the hallmarks of our societies. These rich values are indeed the pillars of a strong OCT-EU relationship.
I believe that the focus of our partnership going forward should remain on reducing OCT’s overall vulnerability as Small Islands States in the global economy. A key feature of this is trade as OCTs move from aid toward self-sustainability. With the help of the EU we can overcome our economic handicaps and better protect our fragile environments.
The EU of course will need to carefully consider the specific challenges and circumstances facing each of our countries and territories and recognize their need for differential treatment. On this point I would like to ask for your support in encouraging the EU to review its eligibility criteria for territorial funds.
In the BVI we find ourselves in a peculiar situation in that our per capita income is considered too high by the EU to receive this form of funding, but our Gross National Product is grossly insufficient to meet our national development needs, infrastructure being a key area. We also find ourselves having fewer and fewer options to raise funding for development projects as restrictions on our ability to borrow in the form of loans have tightened in recent years.
The BVI’s per capita income masks the fact that income in the territory is not evenly distributed across the population and remains concentrated in the financial services sector. Furthermore, as a result of rising inflation, a disproportionate amount of the population’s income goes toward covering the high costs of food, rent, fuel and utilities.
We believe that it is important that these facts are understood and that the EU takes them into consideration and not simply exclude the BVI and others from development assistance on a GNP per capita basis. This measure is increasingly viewed as inadequate and international practice is now shifting toward Gross National Income per capita, which provides a more accurate measure as pointed out in the EU’s 2011 OCT Statistical Systems report.
My delegation will be calling on the EU to provide some access to territorial funds, but of course not at the level rightfully enjoyed by the least developed OCTs. We hope we have your support. We will also be standing behind our colleagues calls for the EU to provide OCT’s with greater access to EU horizontal programmes.
Thank you for your indulgence.
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5 Comments
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“a disproportionate amount of the population’s income goes toward covering the high costs of food, rent, fuel and utilities.”
Our Government need to address the high costs of living in the BVI. Electricity costs are out of control, duty on every day items needs to be dropped completely, the people need a
financial ease.
Is wanting to put more debt on the people of this country a good thing?? Government waste is huge, nepotism, cronieism, and bubbaism is where our money goes. Stop it!
Please Pickering, get real. Name the country in this world where income is distributed evenly across the population. Certainly not in a democratic society.
Cuba
Well, it might be more even if politicians focused on improving the country, and finishing their projects instead of taking advantage of their elected positions for personal gains over those of the people.
Pure ignorance.
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