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Cherry
(SNO) — Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Invest Saint Lucia, Roderick Cherry, has said his vision for the investment agency is that of making it a world class promotions agency and a business enabler.
Cherry, who took up the appointment as CEO of the country’s premier investment agency last week Tuesday, told reporters today (Oct. 8) that he looks forward to delivering on the promises of the agency.
However, he was not too keen on talking about one of the biggest projects to date, undertaken by Invest Saint Lucia, namely the Desert Star Holdings (DSH) project earmarked for Vieux Fort and worth approximately $2.6 billion over a period of years.
But he did say that of all the projects Invest Saint Lucia has in the pipeline, DSH is one of them. The investment’s progress could very well come to a halt on the filing of a claim last week against the Government of Saint Lucia by former Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony. The claim seeks more than one declaration from the court, one of which is that the agreements between the Government of Saint Lucia and Desert Star Holdings Ltd. are unconstitutional, null and void.
“I have been given certain targets and chief amongst them is delivery of pipeline projects. DSH is one of them and so delivery of that will be key, however there’s a process to go through, the checks and balances, due diligence and general managing of this project, as well as any other projects, and so I intend to do what is necessary to deliver on what Invest has to,” Cherry explained.
Cherry said he has no interest in the claim brought by Dr. Anthony, stating that it is outside the domain of Invest Saint Lucia. However on the question of how he will deal with political interference if it comes his way, he made it clear this was one of his concerns on considering the job.
Affirming that political interference is a reality, he says that he is a professional with no political affiliations.
“I am a professional. I am not a political person. I have no political affiliations. I will be guided by the best decision I can make based on my ability, training, and what I believe is the right thing to do,” he said.
Describing the staff at Invest Saint Lucia as “solid” Cherry said at the moment he is learning the organization, its people, its performance, and reviewing strategies and current policy direction.
“It is too soon for me to give to give detail plans but I can say my focus will be on strategic promotions of the country externally. I think we need to develop a targeted strategy for promoting local and regional investment,” Cherry said.
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