Trade Commission needs to be 'reinstituted'- Pastor Skelton-Cline
Pastor Skelton-Cline spoke on his weekly show Honestly Speaking on ZBVI 780 AM on Tuesday, November 26, 2024.
Trade Commission launched in 2021
The Virgin Islands Trade Commission was launched on February 23, 2021, by the Former Premier Andrew A. Fahie government. The commission was; however, suspended last year following the April 2023 General elections by the then Deputy Premier and Minister for Financial Services, Labour and Trade, Hon Lorna G. Smith OBE (AL), who is now back in the Opposition.
The commission was responsible for activities relating to trade and economic development in the territory.
“Your Trade Commission that your government put in place some four years ago now, the Trade Commission needs to be reinstituted and become a working commission,” Pastor Skelton-Cline advised Premier Wheatley.
The trade commission he said needs to be properly staffed.
Cost of living needs to be addressed
Virgin Islanders, Pastor Skelton-Cline continued, will never have the best quality of life in terms of “price points” and the “cost of living” until committed people are at the Trade Commission.
These people should have “mandated a way to address the issue of the cost of living in this country, consumer protection,” he said continuing, “From the shipping to the ports, to the tariffs, to the supermarket, that board or commission needs to be reinstituted.”
The Trade Commission he added should be given to those with the requisite legal construct to do their work.
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4 Responses to “Trade Commission needs to be 'reinstituted'- Pastor Skelton-Cline”
The Trade Commission will be as successful at lowering prices as Labour Dept is at fixing the unemployment issue in the BVI. Why? Because in order to address both issues, you first need to understand the root causes. For cost of living, we need to examine our port, duties etc. that are currently levied on businesses and perhaps consider a tiered duty system where businesses pay a lower rate but need to demonstrate that the savings are passed on. Businesses cannot survive when paying the same costs as a regular consumer to import goods, given their overheads etc. For labour, the issue is skills training that would need to be ongoing, not just 2-day work shops. Long story short, we need to stop talking and start doing. These things require proper understanding and taking action, not putting committees together to talk sh** and pretend like they're working for the people.