BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, April 23, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris continues to draw the world’s attention to St. Kitts and Nevis’ stellar management of the COVID-19 pandemic and his Government’s plans to return the country to a strong economic standing post-COVID-19.
The prime minister’s latest intervention came when he participated in Collision 2021 – a virtual tech conference on Thursday, April 22, 2021. Prime Minister Harris was featured on the ‘Post-Pandemic Recovery in an Interconnected World’ panel alongside Mr Armand Arton, Chairman of Global Citizen Forum and the Hon. Melford Nicholas, Minister of Information, Broadcasting, Telecommunications & Information Technology in Antigua & Barbuda.
Speaking specifically of the situation in St. Kitts and Nevis, Prime Minister Harris said, “We are on the path now to the recovery of the economy as a result of some of the significant steps we took very early. We had a lifesaving strategy where for us as a government and as a people, we said that we had to work to ensure that no one lost their life as a result of COVId-19. St. Kitts and Nevis has achieved that target to date in that we have had a mere 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – all fully recovered, no significant hospitalization, but most importantly, no one has died here. So, we are among the safest destinations.”
Notwithstanding the gains made in St. Kitts and Nevis so far, Prime Minister Harris reiterated that COVID-19 is a global threat and one that the global community must face united.
He said, “We are an interconnected world. Until all states are free of COVID-19, all of us remain vulnerable, and so we need to have global solidarity. I personally would wish to see more global leadership from the new US presidency to ensure that vaccines are made available to more countries, particularly those within the Caribbean region because we are small in numbers and if we can get to herd immunity then we become, as it were, a test case where one can see the value of achieving that particular [herd immunity] status.”
The honourable prime minister was supported at the conference by the Chief Executive Officer of the St. Kitts and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Unit, Mr. Les Khan, as the successes and innovations of the Federation’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme were also discussed.
Collision is regarded as the fastest-growing tech conference in North America. Now in its seventh year, Collision has grown to over 40,000 attendees. This year’s virtual event, held from April 20-22, brought together the industry’s leading companies, international policymakers, and global cultural figures.