Senior Minister Harris attends CDB Board of Governors Meeting in Caymans

Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, MAY 23RD 2012 (CUOPM) – St. Kitts and Nevis’ Senior Minister and Minister of Agriculture and International Trade, Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris is representing Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas at the 42th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

The meeting is taking place in George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands from May 23 and 24, 2012.

Prior to the Governors’ meeting, related activities got underway last week Thursday with the Vybzing Youth Forum on the theme Citizen Security and the Development Agenda. Young people in the Cayman Islands were invited to participate in a video challenge competition with the same theme, and the winning entry will be screened for the Governors.

On Monday, May 21, the CDB Board of Directors met. On Tuesday, May 22, there was a meeting of the Procedures Committee of the Board of Governors, the Annual Meeting of Contributors to the Bank’s Special Development Fund (SDF), followed by a resumption of negotiations for a replenishment of the SDF.

The SDF is CDB’s largest source of concessionary finance for providing soft loans and grants to its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).

Replenishment of the SDF takes place every four years, and the current cycle comes to an end in December. The first formal negotiation meeting was held in Dominica in March 2012.

The Thirteenth William G. Demas Memorial Lecture was on Tuesday and formed part of the Annual Meeting activities.

Meetings of the Board of Governors are taking place at the Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The CDB’s Board of Governors is the Bank’s highest decision-making body. Each year the annual meeting is held in a different member territory. Prior to this year, Cayman hosted the meeting in 1993 and 2002.

The Cayman Islands Premier, the Hon. McKeeva Bush, OBE, JP, has been serving as Chairman of the Board of Governors since the 2011 Annual Meeting. He is presiding over this year’s Governors’ Meeting, and then hand over to his successor at the conclusion.