Immigrant finger pointing a result of slowing VI economy – Hon. Fraser
In an interview done on the programme ‘90 Minutes’ and hosted by Radio St Lucia's Shelton Daniel on August 2, 2013, the Opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP) member said, “…people are in fact becoming disgruntled and pointing fingers and obviously, the closest people to point fingers at are the ones who are immigrants.”
He added though, that the Virgin Islands continues to welcome people from various parts of the Caribbean despite its changing economic and political dynamics.
Hon. Fraser said the finger pointing was no reflection of who the people of the Virgin Islands really are but rather, it’s just the reality of the situation, “when crunch time comes, everybody looks out for themselves.”
He reflected that the relationship between the Virgin Islands and persons of the Caribbean would not change significantly as a result but highlighted that persons are leaving the Territory for opportunities back home.
“What I noticed though, in the Caribbean itself, those people who are here in the Territory right now working, are finding opportunities back home in their own homeland that they didn’t have ten years ago,” Hon. Fraser stated.
He cited St Vincent and the Grenadines as one of the countries that had new developments that encouraged persons to return to their homeland.
He added, “The reasons people may not be here in the numbers ten years from now, it’s not necessarily of we changing our attitudes towards them, it’s because they have been able to create opportunities back home.”
Asked what policies he might pursue as a means of furthering and deepening integration with the rest of the Caribbean if he becomes Premier of the Virgin Islands in future, Hon. Fraser said that the VI was going ‘pretty well’ in terms of its current immigration policies.
He cited the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s relationship with the Territory and the VI’s partnership with the University of the West Indies among some of its steps in this direction and called for reciprocation in the form of the road turning into a two-way street for the VI. “Instead of everything coming up, we should be able to send something down,” he said, “some of those OECS headquarters and CARICOM headquarters should be placed here in the Virgin Islands as well.”
According to Hon. Fraser, the Virgin Islands should be making a serious bid to become an active and serious player in CARICOM instead of being taken for granted as it currently is in many cases.
.png)
.png)
.png)
Follow Us On
21 Responses to “Immigrant finger pointing a result of slowing VI economy – Hon. Fraser”
And where is your proof that it isn't so? You need to open up your eyes a lil wider and you will see what is happening. Maybe you just don't want to accept the fact but its the truth.
Proud of you
By the way rio, is that how you behave when you get caught in a lie? You are better off leaving things like this alone because you in over your head.