Remarks by the Principal

• Author: Keith Hunte
• Profession: Principal, UWI Cave Hill Campus
• Pages: 3-4

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Remarks by the Principal, UWI, Cave Hill

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Remarks on the Occasion of the Opening of the

Inaugural Workshop on Legal Issues in Offshore

International Financial Services held in St. Lucia on

Thursday, December 3, 1998 and Friday 4, 1998

Keith Hunte

Principal, UWI Cave Hill Campus

HONORABLE PRIME MINISTER, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and

International Services Other Members of Cabinet, Honourable Chief Justice,

other Justices and Members of the Judiciary, Director–General, OECS Sir

Probyn Inniss Other Distinguishes Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the University I wish to thank the Government of St. Lucia

for kindly agreeing to co-host this workshop and for making such excellent

arrangements for our accommodation.

The University, with the full support of CARIFORUM and member

governments, is committed to establishing at the Cave Hill Campus a Centre

for International Services and Information Technology. The essence of the

Centre and its programmes is to enable the countries of the region to develop

strategic responses to the rapid and dynamic changes and developments that

are impacting on the Export Services sectors, having regard to the fact that

those sectors constitute the critical growth area for the economy of these

countries.

While all of the countries in the region have recognised that Services is

the way to go, most of them have relied for the most part on Tourism and

Hospitality as the export services sector in which they have a natural (physical)

comparative advantage. Some countries have made significant progress in

the development of other areas, e.g. the Music and Film Industries, the Offshore

Financial Services area, and the development of the Informatics (primarily

data processing) Industry.

However in all areas, from Tourism to Informatics, the countries have

lacked a dynamic intelligence, information and research base to drive, design

and develop the activities, and to anticipate and position them for the rapid

and dynamic changes that characterise these sectors. The Centre is intended

to plug the gap and meet these critical needs.