According to Caribbean 360, St. Lucia is set to become the fifth Eastern Caribbean nation to introduce a Citizenship by Investment program, and the country’s Attorney General has suggested a regional body be established to constantly examine these types of initiatives.

The Senate passed the Citizenship by Investment Bill this week, paving the way for St. Lucia to join Grenada, Dominica St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda in offering citizenship to the wealthy in return for substantial investment.

“We cannot sit back as other countries participate in this process,” Minister for Legal Affairs, Home Affairs and National Security, Senator Victor Phillip La Corbiniere told the Senate on Tuesday.

“We must be at the forefront of it, both locally and at the international level. I would suggest perhaps that down the line, it may well be that countries in the Caribbean that have Citizenship by Investment programmes may want to look at coming together in some kind of standing committee – perhaps a standing committee of CARICOM to keep this matter under constant examination and to be able to keep the government properly advised on developments taking place in this area, and how we need to be proactive in addressing some of these issues.”

He said the programme would bring tremendous economic benefits to the country.

Meantime, Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony assured that the integrity of the country would be maintained and the introduction of the programme would not mean that citizenship would be “available to the highest bidder at any price, at any cost”. [. . .]

For full article, see http://www.caribbean360.com/news/senate-gives-green-light-for-economic-citizenship-programme-in-st-lucia