by Linda Straker
- PM Mitchell only Prime Minister from OECS with CBI programme to address Forum
- Forum is opportunity to market Grenada’s CBI Industry
- Over 7,000 people have become citizens of Grenada through CBI
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer of the Grenada Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Unit Thomas Anthony, and local agents are set to address the 2023 Investment Migration Forum, which opened at the Leonardo Royal Hotel in London on Monday, 15 May 2023.
According to the programme, Prime Minister Mitchell is the only Prime Minister from the OECS with a CBI programme who will be addressing the Forum. On Tuesday, 16 May, he is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at a VIP event and participate in a fireside discussion. Local agent Afi Ventour de Vega (IMCM) of Afi Ventour & Co. is also scheduled to participate.
On Wednesday, 17 May, Thomas Anthony, CEO of the CBU Unit, will be one of the speakers in a discussion entitled “The Caribbean–US Roundtable on Citizenship by Investment: A Model for International Cooperation.”
Other speakers for the discussion are Chris Willis, FIMC, Director, Latitude, United Kingdom; Jeff Hadeed, Chairman, Antigua & Barbuda, CIU, Antigua & Barbuda; McClaude Emmanuel IMCM, CEO, St Lucia CIU, St Lucia; Colin Bishop (IMCM), CEO & Founder, Reef View Enterprises, Grenada; and Keith Isaac IMCM, Chief Operations Officer, Polaris Citizenship & Investment Consultancy, St Lucia.
The Prime Minister left the island on Saturday, 13 May 2023, to attend the 8th edition of the Investment Migration Forum described as one of the world’s most significant Residence and Citizenship by Investment events.
The Forum brings together leading stakeholders in the field of citizens migrations and investment and provides an opportunity to market Grenada’s CBI Industry. “The Investment Migration Forum is the largest and most important non-profit forum in the world,” said the website for the Forum. Over 300 participants will include renowned academics, government officials, representatives of international organisations, and the world’s leading professionals dealing with investment migration.
Over 7,000 people from places like Nigeria, South Africa, Russia, China, and India have become citizens of Grenada through the CBI programmes.
A news release from the Government Information Service (GIS) said that between 2016–2022, CBI financial contributions on average, were 3.5% of Grenada’s Gross Domestic Product annually. Approved projects under that programme also created job opportunities for over 2,400 Grenadian citizens.
Most of these projects are hotel constructions that include the Silversands, Hideaway Apartments, Mount Cinnamon Hotel, Mariposa Condominiums, The Beach House Resort, The Point at Petite Calivigny, Six Senses La Sagesse, and Intercontinental Hotel & Villas Grenada.
All approved CBI projects must be published in the Government Gazette. Section 11 of the 2013 CBI law states, “The Minister shall from time to time by Order identify projects to be managed by identified bodies and organisations and approve those projects for the purpose of investment under this Act, and such approval shall be published in the Gazette, and the Committee shall be notified accordingly.” No project has been published as an approved CBI project for the year 2022 to the present.
