Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
caribbeannetnews.com

Grenada still hurting, says PM
08-11-2006

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada: Grenada's Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell has said that the problems many young people are facing today have been magnified because of the effects of Hurricanes Ivan and Emily.

Prime Minister Mitchell made the point on Thursday, during a meeting with World Bank Officials.

He said, "Because people drive around Grenada and observe that many houses and buildings have been rebuilt they forget that we have been struck by two major hurricanes within ten months of each other. The fact is that the economic impact of Ivan and Emily remains. We still have large numbers of persons who lost their jobs and our productive sectors are still feeling a very serious impact."

The team from the World Bank are in Grenada to work out the details of a major youth training project which is expected to start soon. Under this project the World Bank will provide money to fund the training project which is expected to equip thousands of young people with specialised skills; raise the level of service in the country and create more avenues for employment and entrepreneurship.

Also in the meeting was Minister for Youth Emmalin Pierre, who highlighted the need for the World Bank assistance. Senator Pierre said that a programme like this was long overdue and thanked the World Bank for its interest and for following up on Government's request for assistance.