(SKNIS): Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, has hailed the citizenship by investment (CBI) programme as being successful in attracting businesses to the Federation.
During his Monthly Press Conference on January 14, 2021, at the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) conference room, he said that “When we look in our local domain we see a number of businesses coming on stream by Chinese, the principals behind them are all citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis, and they have come through that particular route,” said the Honourable Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Harris noted that an example of this success is the principal of the Galaxy Hotel gaining his citizenship through the CBI programme.
He said, “Just last week we had the grand opening of the Lans Kitchen Restaurant in Frigate Bay, a new upscale cuisine being added to the menu of services offerings here in St. Kitts and Nevis and the lady behind that again is a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis.”
“So, we have a wide range of interest in our CBI programme, that is why it has become the platinum brand because persons from everywhere have come and have participated with respect to the CBI programme,” said Prime Minister Harris.
He stated that the persons who come to the programme are from all walks of life and hail from a variety of different countries including the United States of America, Canada, Russia, China, and “almost every area of the globe, the programme has found attraction.”
He explained however that the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis does not discriminate from countries making applications to the programme except for three countries.
“For example, Iran is one such country, North Korea is one such country, these internationally have been described as or prescribed as countries that have an international black mark,” said the Prime Minister.
“Because we do not wish to incur any reputational damage, we have taken the decision as a new Government to not entertain applicants from persons resident in North Korea and Iran,” he said.
“Iran for a long time has been described as a state sponsor of terrorism and we would not want our CBI programme to get involved or be intermingled in any such accusations which regard to the applicants,” said Prime Minister Harris.
