Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698833320082.pdf (Saint Kitts and Nevis)
JANUARY - MARCH 2021 VOLUME 1 TRADE AT A GLANCE THETHE OFFICIAL OFFICIAL QUARTERLY QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER MINISTRY OF NEWSLETTER OFOF THETHE MINISTRY OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INDUSTRY, COMMERCE & CONSUMER AFFAIRS INTERNATIONAL TRADE, INDUSTRY, COMMERCE & CONSUMER AFFAIRS Inside this Issue Quotes TRADE: CFBC Students Intern at MITICCA; EPA UNIT "For the only way in which a durable peace can be created is by world-wide restoration of economic activity and international trade."
- James Forrestal - SBDC: Annual Small Business Tuesday; SBDC Tuesday goes Virtual CONSUMER AFFAIRS: Consumer Week of Activities (WCRD) "If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than 5 minutes."
- Albert Einstein - the BOS: The Virtual Launch of Strengthening of the Regional Quality Infrastructure Project; Reduction of UPOPs emissions by improving waste management practices at landfills (SKN) "How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong.

Because someday in your life you will have been all of these."
- George Washington Carver - TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 1 CFBC Students Intern at MITICCA Submitted by Rocquana Walters Four (4) second-year students, Mr. Nayib Williams, Ms. Danielle Williams, Ms. Tamia Strawn and Ms. Rocquana Walters, studying Office Administration and Management (OADM) from the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College (CFBC) were given the opportunity to intern at the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs.
Interns' Experiences Nayib Williams and Danielle Williams The world of work is far different than what we expected; and being new to this job, and adapting to certain tasks is not as easy as it seems as training are required.

We are also gaining keen attention and understanding as to how government and the private sector work together for the good of the economy.

Rocquana Walters My first week at the Ministry of International Trade, et al.
was very interesting, learning about the Ministry and what they do within each department.

I am excited to be able to have this new job experience here at an office and, within a friendly environment, to help me further understand, as an individual, and experience the work field for myself.

This opportunity affords me a chance to learn about effective time improve my management, communication skills as well.
flexibility, organizational skills and Mr. Nayib Williams Ms. Danielle Williams Ms. Rocquana Walters Tamia Strawn During this internship, I’m learning from hands-on experience instead of within the traditional classroom setting.

I expect to develop and refine those skills in the future.

To have this Ministry as a reference, upon completion of our internship, would be an asset, as this would help us transition into a job smoothly.
TRADE AT A GLANCE Ms. Tamia Strawn PAGE 2 TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 3 Entrepreneurship Workshop On Thursday, 18th February, 2021, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) St. Kitts held an in-house Entrepreneurship Workshop with both existing and potential entrepreneurs, in its quest to help further develop the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise sector (MSME).
their The topic addressed was Management: how management should organize and staff their workers; how they plan and control environment; relationships that can be built, not just with entrepreneurs of similar industries others but with encourage relationships; and also mutualistic enhance their leadership skills.
work that At the in-house training, entrepreneurs actively participated in exercises where they were able to express their ideas and opinions while receiving quality advice from the presenters and the respective officers to advance their businesses.

At the end of SBDC’s entrepreneurial workshop, each entrepreneur is presented with a Certificate of Participation.
TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 4 The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) St. Kitts held its second annual Small Business Tuesday on Tuesday, 02nd March, 2021.

This was done virtually as a precautionary measure for the COVID-19 pandemic.

whereas last year, it was held in the Independence Square which allowed various entrepreneurs to showcase their businesses on a face-to-face basis.
The Honorable Minister, Wendy Phipps, Minister of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs provided a speech where she highlighted that the purpose of the virtual Small Business Tuesday was to “showcase Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in St. Kitts and Nevis in terms of their ability to present goods and services to the consumer base of our country”.
Further on, the Minister stated that, “the ambition of this year’s showcase is not only to let the public know that these businesses exist, but to hear from them what their experiences would have been, navigating their lives and their businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic which is still with us”.

The virtual Small Business Tuesday featured a number of entrepreneurs who showcased their businesses for sectors namely, the manufacturing, food and beverage industry, and the construction sector.
Some of the spotlighted entrepreneurs include: TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 5 provides Derval Phipps, CEO of Auto Doc Parts & Services – has been in for 27 - 30 years.

His business maintenance business services and parts for vehicles.

Mr. Phipps said that he “considered spare parts like a bakery, you must buy bread, so in my field you must buy parts”.

Candisie Franklin, Managing Director of Events Extraordinaire – has been in business for 4 years.
It is an all-inclusive event planning and management company which specializes in customizing events (parties, weddings or any type of photo shoot décor).

Ms. Franklin voiced that the pandemic caused great struggle for a business to function per usual, however even after COVID-19, she noticed that persons still wanted to have events on a smaller scale.
Even with the COVID-19, she still found it to be a “blessing in disguise” as her business had an increase of customers than it had before purchasing supplies for events.

She also voiced the advantages of the SBDC department as it has its many perks, whether it be with planning of businesses or consultation.
TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 6 Zachary Getz, Managing Director, BG Fireworks Ltd. – an established company that deals with fireworks and stage effects which has a future plan to branch off in various countries within the region.

In the virtual version of the Small Business Tuesday, Mr. Getz stated that the SBDC department was “integral” to his business as the department provided services to help in the growth and enhancement of his vision.
Khedidrah Williams, owner of Tea Healer Blends – manufacturing herbal teas and beverages as well as 1-day, 2-day, 3-day, 1-week detoxes.
Telephone Number: 1 869 465 1203 https://www.facebook.com/SBDCstkitts TRADE AT A GLANCE Written by Ms. Chedingh Brookes, Junior Industry Officer PAGE 7 WEEK OF ACTIVITIES PLANNED IN OBSERVANCE OF WORLD CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY 2021 Speech by the Honourable Wendy Phipps Minister of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 16, 2021 (SKNIS): In order to highlight World Consumer Rights Day, the Department of Consumer Affairs has planned a Week of Activities, says Minister of Consumer Affairs et al, the Honourable Wendy Phipps, during an address on March 15 in observance of the day.
The Minister highlighted some of the major activities planned.

She said that Consumer Awareness Week 2021 kicked off with a church service on March 14 at the Antioch Baptist Church.

The week will continue with a business forum entitled “Businesses are Consumers Too” on March 17.

On March 18, there will be the Consumer Affairs Primary School Essay and Jungle Competition.
Minister Phipps encouraged the public, wherever possible, to support the various activities for World Consumer Rights Day and also Consumer Awareness Week 2021.

“We remind everyone that we are all consumers of the goods and services produced, marketed, sold, and bought in our Federation,” she said.
“As such, consumer protection and consumer rights constitute everybody’s business.” The minister noted that the department believes that an informed consumer is also an empowered consumer and, as such, the department is serious in its mission and mandate to protect the rights of all consumers.
“We continue to encourage the public to feel free to report any perceived instance of consumer rights’ infringement and, that once reported, such instances will be fully investigated with a view to satisfactory redress,” she said.

World Consumer Rights Day is being celebrated under the theme: “Tackling Plastic Pollution”.
TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 8 TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 9 ST. KITTS CONSUMER AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT WORLD CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY WEEK OF ACTIVITIES 2021 Radio Information Sessions Consumer Corner Radio Programs were held on Monday 15th March.

These radio sessions were air marked to educate the general public on the Rights & Responsibilities of a Consumer and this year’s WCRD Theme “Tackling Plastic Pollution”.
Mr. Devin Richardson went to Freedom FM from 10:00 am, Mrs. Trista Wattley-Stennett along with Mrs. Nakesha McDowell & Ms. Tameka Williams went to ZIZ Radio Broadcasting Studios at 9:30 am and Sugar City FM at 1:30pm.
**************************************************************************************************** Presentation to Schools On Tuesday 16th March 2021, all staff of Consumer Affairs made their journey to schools throughout St Kitts (Government & Private) as an education forum to sensitize teachers and students on World Consumer Rights Day 2021 theme “Tackling Plastic Pollution”.
From all reports, these education sessions were well appreciated and children were awarded gifts for answering questions after the presentations.

************************************************************************* TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 10 Business Forum “Businesses are Consumers Too” The Consumer Affairs Department is expanding its outreach campaign and has included businesses in their consultations.
The first meeting of 2021 was held on Wednesday 17th March, and targeted the supermarkets within St. Kitts.

In attendance were Mrs. Jasemin Weekes – Permanent Secretary of Consumer Affairs et al., Mr. Paul Queeley – Director of St Kitts Consumer Affairs Department, Mrs. Mentrice Warner-Arthurton – Director of Nevis Trade & Consumer Affairs and a host of representatives from various supermarkets in St Kitts.

Opening Remarks were given by Director Paul Queeley.
Presentations were made by Mr. Glenville Leader – Senior Environmental Health Officer; Mr. Jermine Mike – Head of Standardization/Bureau of Standards; Mrs. Trista Wattley-Stennett - Senior Consumer Affairs Officer and Mr. Devin Richardson – Project Officer both represented the Consumer Affairs Department.

Mrs. Wattley-Stennett educated the businesses on the Consumer Affairs Act and the laws governing some topics that are very crucial to consumers.
Some topics discussed were: 1) Dual Pricing 2) Refunds/Exchanges 3) Consumer Safety 4) Sale Items 5) Expired Items 6) Complaints Thanks and appreciation must be extended to our sister office, the Nevis Consumer Affairs Department, who journeyed to attend our week of activities.

A big Thank You is also being expressed to the following supermarkets who took time out their busy schedule.
B’s Supermarket Fraites Supermarket Star Grocery Supermarket Best Groceries Supermarket Dollar Stretcher Supermarket Parris Supermarket Best Buy Supermarket David Lee Supermarket Kings Pavilion Supermarket Island Foods Supermarket Pennies Supermarket Written by Mrs. Trista Wattley - Stennett, Senior Consumer Affairs Officer TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 11 World Consumer Rights Day - 'Week of Activities' Highlights Theme: "Tackling Plastic Pollution" Mr. Paul Queeley, Director of Consumer Affairs Department Mrs. Trista Wattley-Stennett Price Control Officer (CAD) Taiwanese Embassy Staff of Consumer Affairs Dept.
Prize Winners TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 12 Export oriented businesses in Barbados, Dominica, and St. Kitts and Nevis will be offered globally standardized testing at domestic laboratories as early as next year says Mr. Daniel Best, Director Projects Department at the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The Bank has partnered with the European Union (EU) and the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) to upgrade labs, train staff, and in the case of St Kitts and Nevis, develop a national quality policy; to ensure businesses can deliver globally recognized goods and services required for trade.
The Director of the St. Kitts- Nevis Bureau of Standards, Mr. Stuart Laplace, stated that “In St. Kitts and Nevis, we are now refurbishing our laboratory and we will be benefiting in the areas of metrology and NQI (National Quality Infrastructure).

We are able to help inform the general public about the benefits of Metrology and how important metrology is as it relates to trade.
So this is a very timely project that fits into our other laboratory projects that are currently going on in St. Kitts and Nevis."
Written by Dr. Marcus Natta, Science and Research Manager, St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 13 GEF 5558: Reduction of UPOPs emissions by improving waste management practices at landfills (SKN) ‘Development and The regional project Implementation of a Sustainable Management Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean’ is an integrated project for the Caribbean region.
The project is intended to build both institutional and human resource capacity to deal with the impacts of POPs and unintentionally produced POPs (UPOPs) in eight (8) of the Caribbean countries who are Parties to the Stockholm Convention.

This project aims to create an enabling environment in the participating Caribbean countries to reduce and eliminate the threats of POPs.
Participating Countries include Antigua and Barbuda (ANU), Barbados (BDOS), Belize (BZE), Saint Kitts and Nevis (SKN), Saint Lucia (SLU), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), Suriname (SUR), Trinidad and Tobago (TT) Estimated Duration: 60 months Started: December 01, 2015 Expected to end: November 30, 2020 Conducted at SWMC conference room Monday 8th March: Course Introduction & Module 1 - Foundation Knowledge Tuesday 9th March: Module 2 – Contextual Knowledge Monday 22nd March: Module 3 – Landfill operations Tuesday 23rd March: Module 4 – Hazardous waste management and administration - training for Regulators Thursday 25th March: Module 5 – Sector resilience: Systemic design and planning for waste management Module 1 - Waste Management (Fundamental concepts and best practices Part A) Module 1 - Waste Management (Fundamental concepts and best practices Part B) Module 2 – Hazardous waste management and Landfill operations Part A Module 2 – Hazardous waste management and Landfill operations Part B Module 3 – Systemic design in Waste Management TRADE AT A GLANCE PAGE 14 Written by Mr. Franklyn Connor, Head of Chemistry, St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards Meetings with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs – 1st Quarter Mrs. Jasemin Weekes, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of International Trade, Industry, Commerce, Consumer Affairs and the St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards, meetings for the first quarter consisted of the following lists outlined below.
The myriad responsibilities that rest on the shoulders of the Permanent Secretary and management cannot be overstated and to cooperation, maintenance or consistency, and coordination of the Ministry’s input and output is necessary and is highlighted by the significance of meetings undertaken or attended.
thus; general concerns pertaining In addition to the obvious, it must be noted that the overall productivity of the Ministry entails the logical planning or coordination of the staff, private businesses, and public or government entities to ensure that the Ministry’s portfolio and professionalism is highlighted through these very important interactive meetings.

The Ministry’s goals and directions are shown therein.
General Meetings Meeting with the Ministry of Finance with the Ministry of International Trade’s Budget Analyst on 13th January 2021.

Lunch meeting with the Taiwanese Embassy on 14th January 2021.

Forty-Six Meeting of the Community Council (Savingram No.

750/2020), Virtual Conference, on 15th January 2021.

Permanent Secretaries meeting on 11th February 2021 held at the Ministry of Finance.
TRADE AT A GLANCE 2020 National Development Agenda Progress Report Meeting with Ms. Nerissa Williams, Project Analyst, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Sustainable Development along with the Directors of MITICCA on 18th February 2021.

Participated and Chaired the National Trade Facilitation Committee meeting on 25th February 2021.

Attended the Consumer Affairs Business Forum activity in the Ministry’s Conference Room on 17th March 2021.
PAGE 15 General Meetings continued Participated in the Extraordinary Meeting of the Board of Directors of CEDA on 18th March 2021.

Departmental Meetings Department of Trade Attended the Consumer Affairs Primary School Essay & Jingle Competition in the Ministry’s Conference Room for a few minutes on 18th March 2021.

Participated in the 25th Virtual National Workshop Climate Change and Human Mobility Data in St. Kitts and Nevis on 24th and 25th March 2021.
Consumer Affairs Department Communications Unit meeting Administrative Team Industry, Commerce and Small Business Development Center Conducted Meetings Inter-Ministerial Consultative Committee (IMCC) Meetings Meeting with Mr. Ron Dublin Collins, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources and the Senior Technical Teams of both ministries to discuss collaboration efforts on 23rd February 2021.
Meeting with Ms. Kaye Bass, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 23rd February 2021.

Interviews to fill positions at the St. Kitts and Nevis Bureau of Standards on 29th January 2021.

Interview sessions with Trade Policy Officers to fill the position of Senior Trade Policy Officer on 24th February 2021.
Interview session with Ms. Nakeida Drew, Administrative/Research Officer, and Ms. Natalya Paul, Personal Assistant and the Interns from the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College on 12th March 2021.

One-on-one meetings with staff were held to discuss administration and operational matters.

The five main reasons international trade takes place are differences in technology, differences in resource endowments, differences in demand, the presence of economies of scale, and the presence of government policies.
Each model of trade generally includes just one motivation for trade.

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