The first Executive Luncheon of theYear, 2026, of the Saint Lucia Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculturewas fittingly addressed by the newly appointed Minister for Commerce, Dr.Ernest Hilaire, on March 12th, 2026 at the Harbor Club Hotel.
Dr. Hilaire started off his address by encapsulating the Government’s vision for the county in terms of “creating aresilient, competitive & inclusive society and economy”: The critical pillars upon which this will be doneinclude improving the business and commerce environment, regulatory reform, MSME Development, encouraging responsible investment, and building linkages across sectors and thus expanding local enterprise.
He also shared some of the preliminary iniatives that he expects to advance in support of the goal of building resilience, competitiveness and inclusiveness of society and economy. Among the iniatives mentioned included, improving the regulatory framework, revising the Trade License Act, making the long awaited electronic single window, strengthening MSME support, strengthening local production and manufacturing, expanding commerce, particularly for shipping goods across the region, revamping and enhancing the investment regime, growing and building outsourcing process business,specifically strengthening linkages between tourism and other sectors and developing a Global marketing Fund.
Dr. Hilaire also stressed that collaboration between government and the private sector would be essential to drive the desired economic transformation. Moreover he pointed to the urgent necessity for government and the public sector to assume the position and role of being a prime facilitator rather than adopt a posture of a regulator of and for businesses.
The Executive Luncheon was very well attended with attendees being particularly attentive to the words of the Minister. Members also grasped the opportunity to engage the Minister with some comments and questions regarding his presentation and current issues that were incongruent with his stated position that the public sector needed to facilitate economic and business activity rather than the current situationwhere the opposite was the reality.
The Minister was thanked for his well-articulated presentation and his forthright responses to the comments and questions raised. The Chamber pledged to continue to engage the Minister and highlight concernsas they relate to specific issues.
Members can look forward to another Executive Luncheon in April where the CEO of WASCO will be the guest speaker, in addition to a number of workshops particularly those on the effective use of Artificial Intelligence and Social Media Marketing, as well as special workshop on Know Your Labour Act, Small Business Edition scheduled for the next month.