Minister Smith hosts strategy meetings for 2024
Minister for Financial Services, Labour and Trade, Lorna Smith will be hosting a Planning Day today, January 19, with heads of several departments within her ministry.
Smith said she is meeting with leaders to develop a strategy that will help them deliver services that fall under their purview in 2024 and 2025.
“For instance, in the area of trade, we are looking at reconstituting the National Business Bureau, we’re going to talk about workforce development, and I’m hoping that in the end, I will have something more tangible to report on,” Smith explained.
She also said Planning Day will focus on the financial services industry, which is currently facing significant challenges.
“We have to look at the blue economy, fintech, and we have to look at our markets. We’ll also talk about plans to put technology in the Department of Trade and Labour as well. We’ll put all of this in the context of the wider BVI economy, then we have to talk about issues around Central Statistics. Things like census and so forth,” Smith explained.
Some of the ministry’s departmental units such as the Labour Arbitration Tribunal will be closed today in to facilitate Planning Day.
Since taking office last April, Minister Smith has developed a reputation of hosting large meetings with stakeholders in different sectors. She held a series of meetings with business owners, where she sought to understand the main issues they were facing.
She later held meetings with banking stakeholders in an attempt to lobby them on behalf of members of the public who are dissatisfied with their services.
Sixth District Representative Myron Walwyn said the meetings with building officials were unnecessary, but Minister Smith maintained that they yielded results by outlining the unique problems the sector is facing.
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I thought the planning process should be done the year before so that any programmes and initiatives can be costed and included in the budget. Just a thought! Fail to plan properly plan to fail. That is the story of the BVI. Nothing has changed.
Thats for next year’s budget!
Waste of time…
HOW COME SHE DIDN’T CAMP OUT BY THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE YESTERDAY LIKE HOW SHE DID THE DAY AFTER ELECTION?
There she goes again. A 70 yr old wonder: I wonder why people voted for this 80lb waste of time with no idea what to do. She is admitting that she had no agenda when she took on this role. That is facking reckless placing her there
when what we need is Walkie, Walkie, Walkie.
For such an educated lady, you couldn’t advise the Premier to send you in his place if he could not or deliberately did not want to be there.
It certainly looks disgustingly disgraceful on all of you . No class ! A let down to all decent BV Islanders with common sense and common decency.
He who knows that he knows not is a fool . Learn about democracy and diplomacy:
IThis is deplorable behaviour on the part of Govt