St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas (L) greets the Premier of Nevis, Joseph Parry. Photo by Erasmus Williams

Welcoming Premier Parry and his Cabinet Secretary, Ashley Farrell at the Prime Minister’s Office in Basseterre, Dr Douglas used the opportunity at the first formal contact since the Nevis Island Administration Elections to extend heartiest congratulations again on behalf of the Federal Government and the people of St Kitts and Nevis “on your recent victory at the polls and the assumption of the office of Premier.”

“It must have been to a large extent, a summit achieved in your own political career, because you have been in the political arena for quite a number of years, having served not only in the Nevis Island Administration, but also at the Federal level and holding important ministerial portfolios at the Federal level,” Douglas said to Parry, before the two met in privately with their Cabinet Secretaries for some 90 minutes.

“There is no doubt that the people have demonstrated their confidence in you on the Island of Nevis and so the Federal Government warmly welcomes you,” said Douglas in extending the hand of cooperation and friendship.

“We look forward to working with you and your Nevis Island Administration, to pursue the interest of the people of Nevis firstly, and overall, ensure that there is a climate of stability generally in the country, so that we can move forward,” said the St Kitts and Nevis leader.

Douglas noted the pronouncements and statements of Premier Parry since he has assumed the mantle of leadership on Nevis.  “I want to commend you for extending the olive branch to all of the political aspirants on the Island of Nevis, especially the former Premier Hon. Vance Amory and the former Deputy Premier, Mr. Malcolm Guishard, and all those who have served in the interest of the people of Nevis in the past in the Nevis Island Administration,” said Dr. Douglas.

“If Nevis is to move forward, as you have observed, you would need to have all hands on deck; those who have been in government before, and those who now of course are sitting on the opposition benches in the Nevis Island Assembly,” said Douglas.

Douglas also noted an earlier public statement by Parry that one of his priorities at this time is to continue the economic development of Nevis.

“This is instructive, because I believe that as one country, with our people so closely linked with each other, with the economy on the Island of Nevis so closely linked with the economy of St Kitts, especially the island of St Kitts pursuing the development of a services-based economy - which to a large extent has been well rooted on the island of Nevis, especially in tourism and in financial services, there is much that we can learn from each other; much I think we can collaborate with; much that can be of an attraction to the external investor, and in this regard again we are very pleased to have this opportunity to do whatever is necessary in support of the continued economic development of Nevis as we pursue a common agenda of moving our country forward,” said Douglas.

He was of the view that because of the longstanding relationship between them “we should be able to work with each other in the interest of the people of St Kitts and Nevis and particularly in your case,  in the interest of the people of Nevis.” 

In response, Parry gave Douglas the assurance that his (NRP) Administration “intends to work very closely with the Federal Administration - the Federal Government in the interest of the people of Nevis and the people of St Kitts and Nevis.”

“Indeed our first priority is the continuing economic development of Nevis and we do feel that we can co-operate very closely on a number of issues to achieve this,” said Parry, who pointed out that the “development of one island must affect positively the development of the other, and as you have rightly said, the two economies are closely associated and therefore, it behooves us to work together to make sure that both sides of the water continue to benefit.”

Parry said: “Our campaign was very people focus, especially young people focus, and we have a number of issues that we have to address to ensure that the people benefit.”

“It is my belief, economic development is meaningless, if people are not in a better position at the end of the day, and therefore, we will seek to do whatever is necessary to ensure that our people are better off,” said the Premier of Nevis, who noted there are a number of other issues that “we will discuss that will make the people of Nevis and the people of St Kitts quite comfortable and help to continue to build that relationship which seem to exist especially between the young people of Nevis and the young people of St Kitts.”

He said although the recent Election was a hard fought campaign, “it was a lot of fun, and we are thankful that the people of Nevis have settled down very quickly, and people are ready for work and we have hit the ground and we are running.”

“We look forward to a very friendly and cordial relationship with your government,” said the new Premier of Nevis, who used the opportunity to present Prime Minister Douglas with two copies of the Nevis Reformation Party 2006 Manifesto.