The five Caribbean nations who offer Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programmes have met to discuss new ways they can work together, particularly in respect to due diligence.
On Friday, countries belonging to the OECS (Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States) attended a meeting in Saint Lucia, and reinforced their collective commitment to maintaining strong international credibility in respect to their CBI programmes.
Representatives from Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia focussed their conversation on opportunities for collaboration to ensure the programmes maintain their integrity on a world stage, and that the services offered are as efficient and streamlined as possible.
Attendees discussed their due diligence processes and how these could become more uniform among the OECS. The idea of creating a platform where countries could share their finding in relation to applicants was also explored. In relation to vetting potential applicants, incoming OECS Chairman and Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, the Honourable Allen Chastanet believes the process can be streamlined among OECS Member States:
“If an applicant applies in St. Lucia and is rejected, mechanisms must be in place to ensure that this person does not surface elsewhere in the region as a citizen through another CIP (Citizenship by Investment Programmes).”
The Director General of the OECS, Didacus Jules, noted in his report that OECS countries continued to face scrutiny from particular countries, despite many having similar investment programmes offering citizenship. Of this issue Jules said, “Our only chance of winning is to make the integrity of these programs unassailable.”
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