Embrace foreign businessmen – PM

Locals have been urged to embrace Foreign Direct Investment and foreign investors.

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves gave this advice while speaking at a recent cocktail where he addressed local businessmen.{{more}}

The PM stressed that we must not put up a wall against people from other countries who come here to establish businesses, as some of these persons originate from the region, while some may come from far, but have citizenship in the Caribbean.

He added that here in SVG, like many other countries, we are bound by rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has a set of rules which ought to work overall to the benefit of small island states.

The PM stressed that in SVG, we have a juridical, structural and predictable system and not one where the powerful can act with impunity, “so sometimes when investors come, we have to remember the bigger picture.”

He said that a number of foreign vendors sometimes sell substandard merchandise and Vincentian businessmen can take advantage of this lapse in judgement.

“If somebody comes here from mainland China to sell stuff at whichever location, there is nothing that prevents you from going to Shanghai and getting your containers and sell the same commodities and in fact for you to really do better than they do, because you understand the market better and some of the rubbish they bring to try to sell people you will just shrug your shoulder and say you not taking that to St Vincent because Vincentians would not have any part of that”, said the PM.