• last year
St Kitts and Nevis: Taking action to meet investor needs in 2020
Transcript
00:00Hello, everyone, and welcome to this Gulf News webinar in association with CS Global Partners.
00:06And we'll be focusing once again on citizenship by investment, and this time in the beautiful
00:12Jewel Island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean. It has beautiful mountains and beaches
00:18and is a huge attraction for tourists. I'm your moderator for today. My name is Emma Brain. I'm
00:23a British presenter and reporter, and I've been working across media platforms in the UAE since
00:292003. So let's dive straight into today's topic for today. St. Kitts and Nevis is the smallest
00:37sovereign state in the Western Hemisphere with a population of just 53,000 people. The island's
00:44citizenship by investment program is the oldest in the world, and it's been running for 37 years
00:49and is extremely attractive for people seeking a second citizenship by investment and offers huge
00:56benefits for you and your family. And today, it's my absolute pleasure to be talking to the Prime
01:02Minister of the Caribbean nation, Dr. The Honorable Timothy Harris, and also Mr. Les Kahn, CEO of St.
01:09Kitts and Nevis CBI program. Good afternoon to you both. I know it's very early in the morning there,
01:15so thank you so much for joining us today. Good afternoon, and thank you for having us. It is
01:22just after eight in the morning. It's breakfast time, but we are happy to be here. I'm super happy
01:28to have you both. And now, Prime Minister, if I can come to you for the first half of this session.
01:34Now, St. Kitts and Nevis was the first country to establish citizenship by investment as an option
01:41for international investors to gain a second citizenship. Does this legacy still have an
01:46impact on the program today? Thank you for that question, and we are very proud that some 37 years
01:55ago, those before us, our leaders, had the vision to determine that there was a need for an alternative
02:03pathway if the smallest sovereign state in the world was going to be able to fend for itself
02:10and advance. 37 years after, the answer is yes. The legacy still lives. We are proud at this time
02:18to be considered internationally to have the oldest and the best citizenship by investment
02:25program. 37 years after, we have the longest experience in management of CBI program.
02:3437 years after, we have adjusted our legislative framework to ensure that it is stronger than ever
02:42before. And with 37 years of experience, we have been able to engage investors far and wide into
02:51the attractiveness of St. Kitts and Nevis so that we boast among the Caribbean islands of having the
02:57largest number of branded hotel properties such as Four Seasons, such as Park Hyatt, such as Marriott
03:06that have been financed by this project. And so the answer then is that we have a reputation to defend
03:13and we have a reputation to protect. And the government is committed to continue to be
03:19a very responsible member of the international community, one in which all states can count on
03:26to ensure that those who come to our program are the most discerning of investors who could
03:33appreciate not just the extraordinary beauty of my beloved country of St. Kitts and Nevis,
03:40but our great capacity to continue to grow and develop. So we are very satisfied at this time
03:48to have the best program and we commit going forward to continue to provide competent and
03:55reliable service. We commit that we will be always the most innovative program available.
04:02And of course, we value the trust that we have developed over all these years with our clients,
04:09with governments far and near. We value that very highly. And so we will continue to be
04:15a reliable member of the international community. And it looks absolutely beautiful, Prime Minister.
04:23And I was reading it is, you know, one of the top, if not the not the not the top citizen
04:29programship in the world. Now, the St. Kitts and Nevis program is premised on the notion with an
04:35investment in the Federation, an application can receive citizenship and live and work in the
04:42country in a post COVID-19 world. What are the greatest incentives for foreign investors there?
04:49Well, I think there are many at this particular time of uncertainty. I believe investors are
04:56looking not just at acquiring citizenship, but acquiring it in a country which is peaceful,
05:03which has strong rule of law, and which is growing or has that capacity. St. Kitts and
05:10Nevis, of course, has that. And this is not just my saying it. Internationally, there is what is
05:17called the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index. And among our peers in the Eastern Caribbean,
05:26we have been consistently the best performer year after year, which is an indication that the rule
05:33of law is strong. Property rights are respected. Our judiciary is working and working well.
05:42So an investor need not be concerned about the reliability of his investment, his ability to
05:50move the profits, the gains, etc. All those things are facilitated under our rubric of law and order.
05:59We also have one of the most successful democracies. We were one of the first countries
06:06in the world that have had to face a general election in the context of COVID-19. Our success
06:15as managing general elections in those very difficult times again shows that we are a country
06:22with tremendous respect for rule of law, for democracy, and of course, we are an example.
06:29Another important index, in my view, is the United Nations Quality of Life Index. You compare us to
06:38countries large and small, St. Kitts again is among the top performers in quality of life.
06:45Whether it is education, healthcare, per capita income, we are among the best performers within
06:51the region. Within the entire hemisphere, we are in the top five. Within our own OECS,
06:58we are number one. Within the wider Caribbean region, we are again top of the class. So I
07:04believe we bring predictability to investment, we bring the protection of property rights,
07:10and we bring a democracy in which people can come, bring their family, and be an active participant
07:18in the socio-economic life of our country. That certainty in an age now of uncertainty,
07:25in an age where there are difficulties in some countries regarding government excesses, I think
07:32St. Kitts and Nevis now is like a gem. And I would want to encourage all those who are thinking about
07:39investment, think not just about citizenship, think of a vibrant country, one such as St.
07:45Kitts and Nevis, in which, you know, your returns will go tremendously.
07:50Absolutely fantastic. And of course, the quality of life is key for so many of us,
07:55and so many advantages there for people. How has the Citizenship by Investment Programme
08:01impacted life there on St. Kitts and Nevis?
08:06It has been a godsend, and that is why every day we thank those who had the vision to introduce it
08:14some 30 odd years ago. When in 2005 we were faced with the challenge of closing an industry,
08:23the sugar industry that had been with us for some 366 years, everyone asked,
08:30asked, what would happen? What will we depend upon? We were producing sugar which we export
08:38to the European Union and to other countries. With the vicissitudes within that industry,
08:44the highly competitive nature, the high cost, it had become clear to us that given our smallness,
08:51we could not compete with the larger countries of the world in Africa, in Asia, wherever they are,
08:58and that the cost of doing that business was too high. We closed the industry in 2005,
09:06and we therefore began to look, rather than at merchandise, to tourism and services as the
09:13answer to sustain a good quality of life for our people. We have been able to make the transformation.
09:21Through the CBI, we have been able to harness resources so that we can retrain the population.
09:28Through the CBI programme, we have been able to bring large hotels to St. Kitts and Nevis,
09:34like the Marriott, like the Four Seasons, like Park Hyatt, and those have created good paying jobs
09:42for our citizens in St. Kitts and Nevis. And other properties such as Ramada, such as Koi,
09:49have now shown significant interest in St. Kitts and Nevis. So, helping us cross a difficult period
09:57of closure of one major industry, which headed towards the largest foreign exchange earner
10:04and largest employer, to a new industry, that position has been made easier as a result of the
10:12CBI programme. And as we continue to build out, for example, non-sugar agriculture,
10:18fruits and vegetables, it is the resources which we hope to secure to the CBI that is making
10:27difference. And largely, social development, investment in education, investment, for example,
10:34in healthcare in the context of COVID, which we always have now to be strengthening. It is the
10:41resources that we were able to save from the CBI programme that allow us to respond so early and
10:48properly and to provide a social safety net to those of our citizens who were put out of work.
10:56Thousands of them, here and across the region and the world, had become jobless and without an
11:02income. We were able to go into our savings, which had largely come from our putting aside
11:10some of the inflows from the CBI to now keep our country on an even keel. So, yes, it has been very
11:18much impactful. Sports development on the island of Nevis has been impacted by resources from this
11:26particular project. We were able to build a second gooseberry here in St. Kitts. We have over one
11:34million goose visitors over the last two years. We felt that this investment was needed and this
11:41particular project was financed completely, 100% by domestic resources and the CBI provided a
11:50significant portion of that investment. So, the diversification of the economy, the provision of
11:57social safety nets, all those have been made possible and made easier because of the resources
12:05from our CBI program. Absolutely incredible and it's wonderful to hear that and it truly is
12:12a testament to your leadership and what you're doing there, Prime Minister, as well.
12:16And hopefully, you know, when global travel is opened up again, we can all go there and visit
12:23you because you've got some incredible brands investing and coming to your country and it
12:28sounds absolutely wonderful. With our large readership here in the UAE and indeed the greater
12:35Middle East, we can't fail to ask about St. Kitts and Nevis' current and future relationship with this
12:42region. What is your vision in that respect? Well, we want to consolidate that. It's an important
12:49region for our Citizenship by Investment program. It's also an important region in terms of its own
12:57advancement and growth and its model. And so, we look to that for for examples of what
13:03what is possible. Some of what is possible and we are applicable to adopt them in the context of St
13:09Kitts and Nevis. As a result of our CBI, we have a large number, thousands of our citizens who are
13:17resident in the UAE and so on, Saudi Arabia, elsewhere in the Middle East and so on, all over
13:24the world. Therefore, we will always have an interest there and what we want is to make St
13:29Kitts and Nevis an attractive destination for them to come home to St Kitts and Nevis, to contribute
13:37more, to be part of life here, experience a different life than they would have there in the
13:44Middle East or anywhere else in the world. Our calm, our serenity, our natural beauty, all of these
13:51things in the era of COVID have taken prominence. The ability to be out in the sun, to get the the
13:58tropical breeze for all its therapeutic impact and our health. All those now are lowering
14:05attributes for any country and St Kitts offered those in in high measure. Significantly, we were
14:13the first country in the Caribbean to have established a consulate in Abu Dhabi. We did
14:20that early and we are hoping to move to an embassy in the not too distant future. We have reached out
14:27to several other countries there that have um significant interest now in in being more of a
14:34global player and we are continuing the dialogue and conversation at the government level but
14:42importantly at the people to people level. So, we have participated in international games in the
14:48Middle East and so on, flying the flag of St Kitts and Nevis, beautiful as it is, but sending a
14:55message, though small, we can do and we are able to do that which any other sovereign state can.
15:03Absolutely incredible. Thank you so much. It sounds wonderful and we look forward to
15:08incredible future ties here with the UAE and indeed um the greater Middle East region. Thank
15:14you so much Prime Minister, Dr the Honourable Timothy Harris for your time and sharing thoughts
15:19with us this afternoon. It's been an absolute pleasure to speak to you and wonderful to hear
15:24about the amazing opportunities that are available to people who'd consider investing and moving to
15:30your beautiful country and the fact that it's so family friendly as well and that the onus is on
15:35family life and welcoming families with lots of benefits is um I'm sure of great interest to lots
15:42of people and very very appealing. So, thank you very much for your time this afternoon.
15:47Thank you and an open invitation is extended to you to come visit us. I definitely will,
15:54it's on my list as soon as I can get there I'll be making my way over. Thank you so much.
15:59Bless you. And now we come to Mr Les Kahn, CEO of the St Kitts and Nevis Citizenship
16:06by Investment Program. Good afternoon Mr Kahn, how are you and thank you for joining us this
16:11afternoon. Good afternoon, it's my pleasure to be here, thank you. Now, first of all the St Kitts
16:17and Nevis recently introduced a limited time offer for prospective applicants under the
16:23Citizenship by Investment Program. What's the time frame and the rationale behind this limited time
16:29offer? Well, first of all the limited time offer is available and started in June of 2020
16:39and will expire on the 15th of January 2021. The rationale behind it is to ensure that we give
16:48everybody an opportunity during this period of time of COVID and uncertainty. We give families
16:56the opportunity to get citizenship so that they can travel more freely and can be with their loved
17:03ones. In addition, we expect that with individuals applying for citizenship in St Kitts and Nevis
17:11will also come to St Kitts and Nevis and as the Prime Minister so rightly stated, we want them
17:17to come here and visit and contribute to the economy. So, with the limited time offer for
17:24this period of time we are given the opportunity to family members to get in at the most reasonable
17:32price length. Okay, fantastic and what are the investment requirements under this limited time
17:38offer and how is it differing from the normal investment requirements that you would have?
17:44Under the limited time offer, the investment option is $150,000 for a family of four.
17:52Now, and this is up to a family of four, so under the existing environment prior limited time offer
17:59an individual, a single applicant could be at $150,000 and the spouse will be another $25,000
18:07and then the dependents would be an additional $10,000. So, generally a family of four would
18:16normally cost about $195,000 US dollars and with the limited time offer there is a discount of
18:24$45,000. Now, it is different from the other investment options because we haven't made any
18:31adjustments to any other option. The real estate option stays the same at $200,000 or $400,000
18:40and those are still available to our clients and we see a large interest in that but with the
18:45limited time offer we are seeing a lot of applications coming in and a lot of individuals
18:51from the Middle East taking advantage of this very special offer. I'm sure because when you
18:56kind of stack it up against other options it's extremely affordable and with everything else
19:03that you have to offer as well and the benefits that you're giving to people wanting to move there
19:08for a second citizenship, why would you not take advantage of this? It's amazing and this limited
19:14time offer is best appreciated by families. Which family members can be added to an application
19:21for this citizenship by investment program in St Kitts and Nevis? The St Kitts and Nevis
19:28citizenship program allows for a main applicant and that main applicant has to be over the age of 18
19:40then their spouse and their dependent children. Their dependent children can be up to the age of
19:4830. In addition the parents of the main applicant and the spouse can apply under an application
19:56and the grandparents can also apply. In order to qualify for the parents they'll have to be over
20:04the age of 55 years and this was an adjustment that we made to accommodate and recognize
20:11that in the Middle East specifically there are a lot of families where the parents take early
20:18retirement and now become dependent on the children at a very early age. So this adjustment
20:26was made and it just reinforces the government's thoughtfulness in considering such a family
20:36venture and we made this adjustment a while back. Sounds amazing once again and Mr Khan,
20:43the CBI index a yearly publication by the Financial Times PWM magazine was released
20:50not so long ago on the 7th of September and St Kitts and Nevis was the only country to receive
20:58full scores under the citizenship timeline pillar. What do you think sets St Kitts and Nevis apart
21:05from its competitors in this respect and it's a great accolade to have?
21:10Well thank you for recognizing that and this pillar of timeline is one of five pillars that
21:18we received full points on. The fact that we have the ability to accelerate or process our
21:27applications in the most accelerated manner is based on the fact that we were the first country
21:33to implement an automated system end-to-end from our service providers into the unit and it runs
21:4224 by 7. This allows our clients, our service providers to put in their applications
21:50real-time and for the unit to be able to access it. Now with this score of 10 points and a full
21:59score, what we have been able to do to achieve this is to be able to offer our clients an
22:08accelerated application process and we are the only program in the world that offers an accelerated
22:13program and this is because we have been able to master our process, master the efficiency
22:20with which we expedite these applications and I would like to emphasize that we expedite,
22:29we process quickly without compromising our due diligence, without compromising
22:34the integrity of our program. I was going to say and my next question, due diligence is also a
22:42cornerstone of the St Kitts and Nevis program and indeed it's another part of the CBI index
22:48assessment under which the Federation received your full scores. What's involved in the due
22:54diligence process? What happens? The due diligence is the most important part of any
22:59application process and it begins at the point that a client asks for an agent to represent him
23:10and to put in his application. At that point that agent, be it in the Middle East or any other part
23:16of the world, will know your customer, will do some research on the background of that client
23:25to ensure that the integrity of that client is one that St Kitts and Nevis will accept.
23:32In many cases agents will call to my office directly and will do a pre-scan, would inquire
23:40as to whether we will accept this person or not accept this person. So there's a lot of dialogue
23:45going on with our agents and this becomes part of why we are so good at what we do because we
23:52engage with our agents even at that point in time. Once the application is submitted by the agent
24:02and all of the documentation is received, it's sent to a local service provider and the local
24:11service provider is regulated by our financial risk and control group. So they have to get their
24:19licenses in order to become a local service provider. Once they receive that application,
24:25they too do a due diligence on the applicant because we want the service provider to be aware
24:33of the client that they have submitted. We don't want the service provider to just be a mailbox,
24:40so we emphasize this and it goes into the enhanced due diligence that we do. Once that's
24:48achieved, the file comes to the unit and this is where the unit now takes over the whole process
24:54of the application. We then send, after we review all of the documents, ensure that they are valid,
25:02ensure that they're notarized and it's legit. We then send the application information to
25:10an internationally acclaimed due diligence company and we have about five due diligence
25:16companies around the world who specialize in different regions or different countries
25:23and we keep a very close tab on them. Once we give it to them, they do media searches,
25:31they do open source searches and then they put boots on the ground and they send individuals
25:36to do discrete inquiries on the applicant and his family, his employment, any records that
25:46might be public but not published, verification on employment, on education, place of residence.
25:56These are things that we get our boots on the ground to submit a report back to the major
26:04due diligence company and they submit a total report which is not a recommendation for
26:12citizenship. It's just a report that gives us as much detail as possible and then we review that.
26:18The second part of the due diligence is in sending the same information to international
26:24law enforcement. There's a group in the Caribbean who we send this information to and they have
26:30access to databases from the US, from the EU, from the UK and from Canada and other countries
26:38and they then are able to check for links to terrorist activity, terrorist financing,
26:47criminal activity, money laundering, Interpol. These are some of the areas that they will go
26:54into and they will also send a report. When the unit receives both of these reports,
27:01they will do a review and an assessment of the information that has been received
27:07against what the client has submitted to us and at that point, if everything matches,
27:14then we will make a recommendation for citizenship. So it's a very thorough due
27:20diligence process and one that we know that we excel in and we put as much emphasis in this
27:27process as any other process, in fact more, because we have to ensure that the integrity
27:34of the individuals obtained in citizenship is one of the highest caliber. That's amazing to hear,
27:40I mean the comprehensiveness of it, the strictness of it, because of course the safety and the
27:46security of the country is key. So thank you so much Mr. Lez Khan, CEO of the Sinkits and Nevis
27:53Citizenship by Investment Program for all of that information, absolutely fantastic and I think one
27:59of the, you know, it's testament to the success of your program, that it's longevity, you've
28:07streamlined the processes, you've made it very easy, there's huge benefits to everyone. It's
28:12absolutely incredible and we say once again thank you so much to the Prime Minister of this
28:17successful Caribbean nation, Dr. the Honorable Timothy Harris as well and as we wrap up, we'd
28:25like to thank once again CS Global Partners for helping us with this webinar. So Mr. Lez Khan,
28:32thank you very much for joining us this afternoon, it's been a pleasure to speak to you.
28:36It's my pleasure, thank you very much. Thank you so much and it's been a pleasure to speak to you
28:41both and to hear about all the opportunities that are available through the CBI program
28:46and while I'm certain that many of our viewers will already know of the beauty and the warmth
28:52of Sinkits and Nevis, I'm equally sure that many will have benefited from learning the skill with
28:57which it's faced the COVID-19 crisis and its commitment to health and well-being of all its
29:03residents. With a new wave of COVID-19 looming for many of us, I expect this will be on many people's
29:09minds as they consider where to move next and equally the limited time offer Mr. Khan kindly
29:15explained to us comes at exactly the right time for families who want to feel safer with an uncertain
29:22future. Coupled with the CBI program's ability to deliver quick processing, it presents a unique
29:29opportunity for investors to obtain citizenship in a manner that is both a cost and time
29:36efficient and effective. Thank you finally to you our viewers, I hope this webinar was able
29:41to spark not just your imagination but also your interest in one of the most exciting solutions
29:47for dynamic families available today and Sinkits and Nevis, a beautiful, beautiful country,
29:53definitely one to explore and one to check out the CBI program that's for sure. Once again,
29:58we thank you so much the Prime Minister, Dr. The Honorable Timothy Harris and you Mr. Les Khan,
30:06CEO of the Sinkits and Nevis Citizenship by Investment Program. Thank you so much for joining
30:11us this afternoon, my name is Emma Brain and we hope to bring you more interesting webinars in the future.