ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, 26^th July, 2022: Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has reassured the island’s private sector of his government’s commitment to support both the business sector and the Grenadian worker.

Speaking at a Grenada Chamber of Industry and Commerce (GCIC) organized luncheon at the Grenada Trade Center, the Prime Minister told more than 250 business leaders and senior managers that while his government is pro-business, he is acutely aware that whatever the status of an individual in a company, everyone is a worker, concerned with the success of the business.

“I do not see that there is any inherent contradiction between business and work or between employer and employee. We all want the same thing and it is the people that make a business successful. We are pro-people, we are pro country,” he remarked.

He said while the learning curve for ministers who come from the private sector to providing leadership in the public sector has been “steep”, they are eager to bring some of the cultural traits of the private business space, such as quick decision making, into government operations.

“I am here because I wanted to demonstrate the government’s commitment to the private sector and to recognizing that , despite all of the conversation during the campaign about transforming Grenada, it has to be led, driven by the private sector”, he told the meeting, which GCIC officials indicated was one of the best attended in recent times.

The Prime Minister said his governments approach will focus on treating all investors fairly, by ensuring that both international investors and local stakeholders have access to the same concessions where appropriate.

He said his government will move away from the practice by some governments of treating Grenadian citizens as second class, in regards to incentives, concessions, the ease of doing business and decision making. To generous applause, he assured the audience that the government’s focus will be on Grenadians who own businesses, who will like to start a business and those who wish to grow their business.

“Our focus will be on businesses that operate in Grenada, particularly businesses that have already proven themselves and so we will continue to encourage them to expand and grow. It does not mean that we do not want new businesses, it does not mean that we will not encourage new businesses, but it is important that we start with what we have first,” he said.

Against the backdrop of his return from a recent meeting of the Monetary Council of the East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Prime Minister Mitchell called on the banking community and credit unions to make available some of the liquidity now sitting in their coffers to allow the country to develop.

“It is clear that Grenada and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OCES) has a lot of money sitting in the banks, sitting in the credit unions, and so the task and the challenge for us is to unleash the opportunities so that those funds can be invested back in our communities and our countries. That is part of the focus that we will be adopting,” he pledged.

He said while some of the policies announced in the campaign for office and outlined in his National Democratic Congress (NDC) Manifesto “will meet resistance” his government is prepared to consult, debate and hear “the other side of the coin.” However the Prime Minister drew a line in the sand when he declared to the meeting, “we are not prepared to accept no as an answer.”

He promised that any major policy issues will be the subject of consultations and discussions with the sector so that “we can agree and act.”

The Grenadian leader spent the better part of 2 hours responding to questions from participants who were eager to understand the new administration’s policies on various issues, including manufacturing, the financial sector and the role of the business community in national development.