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Build food storage & more regional partnerships- Skelton Cline
He was at the time on his Honestly Speaking programme—February 18, 2025—when he again warned of impending economic instability, this time pressing further, calling on the administration to reappropriate budgetary funds to build food storage infrastructure and establish more regional trade partnerships.
Regional trade expansion
“If I was given leadership to this country, here's what I would tell us to do, I would reappropriate money out of the budget to go towards building some sense of what will result in food security for this country.”
Advocating for the construction of silos in locations such as Sage Mountain- where they would be protected from natural disasters- and the stockpiling of essential goods, Skelton-Cline, was adamant the Virgin Islands must with haste, move away from reliance on traditional supply chains, which often route agricultural products through the United States, and instead build direct trade relationships with Latin American and Caribbean nations.
“I will make some trips, not just to Asia, gotta go to Asia, but to Santo Domingo, to Grenada, to Brazil, to all of these South American and Latin American countries that feed the world through agriculture,” he stated.
Insistent, America’s increasing isolationism poses a serious risk to small economies like the Virgin Islands, which depend heavily on imports, he told the listening audience, “The only problem is it's been going through America to get to us (and) America is isolating itself from the rest of the world.”
US Trade Policies
In yet another critical stance on U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies, arguing that tariffs imposed on China, Mexico, and Canada will have downstream effects on the Virgin Islands, he argued, “You think that we are exempt from this stuff? This guy is sitting down… Trump looks like a strong man and he looks like he's leading, but he's not leading.”
According to Skelton-Cline, the Virgin Islands' reliance on the US dollar and external food sources makes it particularly vulnerable, since “99 percent of our food comes from outside; We got the Ministry of Agriculture and we have a junior minister, you know, they killed agriculture since the National Democratic Party government; Only thing we haven’t had is the funeral, but they've killed it since then.”
National mobilisation
With this in mind, he posits, decisive leadership is needed to guide the nation through these turbulent times and called on the Premier and the House of Assembly to take proactive measures in preparing for economic challenges.
“If I was given leadership to this country, I would use the office of the Premier and the bully pulpit of the House of Assembly to mobilise and marshall the citizens of these Virgin Islands to brace for impact.”
Reiterating that clear communication with the public is necessary to foster national preparedness, he suggested, “Say to them what you're doing, share with them why you're doing what you're doing; Provide for them a rationale around the region and the outer world as to what you see and think that's happening and what's going to be their role.”
Meanwhile, in addition to food security, Skelton-Cline also called for the establishment of a properly resourced think-tank, sanctioned by the House, to provide strategic direction for the territory’s development.
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5 Responses to “Build food storage & more regional partnerships- Skelton Cline”
"I would appropriate money out of the budjet"
Do you see that. His mind is set on our budget money, even before we have collected sufficient enough to buy food for us and our children and grand children.
"I will make trips to Asia, not only go to Asia."....
You see that too? He listed a few of the countries he will travel to, but not the others on his mind.
"If I was given leadership of this country, l would use the office of the Premier."...
You see that too? He want to become the leader of the B.V.I financial Minister, so that he will be able to make many pleasure trips various countries at our expense.
On of the greatest of sins recored in the bible is the sin of covetiousness, the greedy man's mindset.
True, yes that most persons in this world are greedy minded, Mr. Claude Skelton Cline is surely one of them. He is a very covetious person. He has a want-want envious spirit controlling him. He knows this, as many others do.