Provideciales, Turks and Caicos Islands — Prime Minister of St Lucia Phillip J Pierre has succeeded Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Charles Misick as chairman of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) board of governors.

The handover of chairmanship took place yesterday, June 16, 2022, at The Shore Club in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, during the closing ceremony of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the CDB’s Board of Governors.

Addressing the incumbent, CDB President Dr Gene Leon said, “To our incoming chair, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia Philip J Pierre, we eagerly look forward to working with you to craft and execute your vision for your coming tenure as chairman of the board of governors.”

At the same time, Leon thanked Premier Misick for hosting this year’s conference.

Pierre assumes chairmanship for the next year and his country will host the 53rd staging of the event next year.

Addressing the gathering at The Shore Club, the St Lucia prime minister shared that in his dialogue with Dr Leon, he expressed satisfaction with the “development path that the CDB has been advocating in the region.

“To my mind, it was a path to building resilience in a holistic way to help the people of the region fulfil the commitments of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Pierre continued.

While noting that the Caribbean is in a crisis, he also underscored the need to measure, target and eliminate the challenges stemming from the pandemic, climate change and the Russia-Ukraine war. However, Pierre also warned that if the crisis continues without the proper measures to control it, the Caribbean stand to see increasing poverty and the erosion in the quality of life.

To this end, the prime minister emphasised the need to create new avenues and opportunities to build resilient economies for the peoples of the region.

Pierre added that raising funds to finance achieving the SDGs will require new and innovative financial instruments, an improved regulatory and procurement infrastructure and greater integration of financial markets in the region.

“The CDB has estimated that building resilient economies will require substantial financial resources of at least US$ 1 billion annually to help us achieve our developmental targets. Let me suggest that these figures may increase if the present global situation further deteriorates,” Pierre stated.

“The reality is that if we are to achieve these financing goals the bank will have to access adequate and affordable finance underpinning a ‘Partnership for Development’ that includes the regional and international private and public sector, our developmental partners as well as other multilateral development banks,” he added.

On this note, he praised the CDB for creating the timely and necessary strategic alliance it has forged with the African Development Bank (AfDB) with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Dr Leon and his AfDB President Dr Akinwumi Adesina.

“We are looking forward to working with the AfDB, having cemented our relationship with the execution of an MOU during this meeting. It is high time that Africa and the Caribbean form partnerships for inclusive and sustainable development,” Dr Leon said in his closing speech.

The AfDB president was also the keynote presenter at the 2022 William G Demas Memorial Lecture on Tuesday, June 14, where he highlighted areas for collaboration between both regional development banks.

Touching on the CDB’s goal of holistic development, Pierre highlighted the need to improve the lives and livelihoods of women, differently abled and youth.

“In this regard, I urge member states to focus on the economic well-being of our young people. The Government of St Lucia has created a special place in our economy for youth entrepreneurship and business growth within the general economic system to be pursued in the immediate future. In that space youth will be provided with state resources to help them convert hobbies into entrepreneurship and skills into business through finance and marketing support, training and mentorship; thus creating sustainable livelihoods and a new cadre of indigenous business people,” the incoming CDB chairman said.

Pierre also thanked the non-borrowing member countries for their investment in the CDB.