NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS – The Nevis Island Administration (NIA) is currently consulting with Nevisians living in the Diaspora as they seek to craft a concession package for nationals desirous of returning to live and invest in Nevis.
“I penned an open letter and I did say that we will shortly be announcing a package of concessions because we recognize that we have to give some careful thought to what it is we can offer and what might prove attractive to our people to come home. In terms of the package, we are working on it, and I have asked for some assistance,” Premier of Nevis the Honourable Mark Brantley has stated.
In a recently published open letter, Premier Brantley, Nevis’ Minister of Economic Planning, urged Nevisians and those of Nevisian descent to “come home” and take advantage of the opportunities available in Nevis and help drive the island’s development.
“It is fair to say that Nevis is being transformed and my sincere invitation to you is to come home and be a part of that transformation. Nevis needs your skills, your investment dollars, your expertise, your passion, your love and patriotism,” he said in the July 30, 2024 invitation.
The Premier highlighted some of the advancements that have propelled Nevis to a much more modern society than those who migrated to other countries decades ago would have known. He said the recent Culturama 50th Anniversary Homecoming Celebrations provided an opportunity for visiting Nevisians to see Nevis in a new way and a new light.
“Many people when they left Nevis in the 70s, 80s, 90s, left because of the difficult economic circumstances that were here. They left an island which had very little in terms of development and so they went abroad in their numbers to make a better life. I have said that that Nevis is no more; that the Nevis today is modern. It is developing sustainably.
“We have now great electricity, better water, better roads, better housing, better infrastructure generally, better transportation links, better internet broadband connectivity. We are about to embark on the airport development. These are things that the island has been doing in a very systematic way. So we feel that it is time that Nevisians and their children- whether in the Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean, those in the U.S., the U.K., or in Europe- that they take another look [at Nevis].”
The call for Nevisians to return home goes beyond physical relocation, Premier Brantley explained, emphasizing investing in and contributing to the land of their birth.
Premier Brantley maintains that the Nevis Island Administration continues to make policy prescriptions to achieve a Sustainable Island State, however, sustainability will not be achieved without the reservoir of talents of the Nevisian people living outside of the island.