Saint Kitts And Nevis - Tips
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Bureau of Western Hemisphere
Affairs
June
2007
Background Note: Saint Kitts and
Nevis
The flag of St. Kitts and Nevis is divided diagonally from the lower
hoist
side by a broad black band bearing two white,
five-pointed stars; the black
band is edged in yellow; the
upper triangle is green, the lower triangle is
red.
PROFILE
OFFICIAL
NAME:
Federation of Saint Kitts and
Nevis
Geography
Area: St. Kitts 168 sq. km. (65 sq. mi.); Nevis 93 sq. km. (36 sq.
mi.).
Cities: Capital--Basseterre (pop. about
15,000).
Terrain: Generally mountainous; highest elevations are 1,156 m.
(3,792 ft.)
at Mt. Liamuiga on St. Kitts and 985 m; (3,232 ft.)
at Nevis peak on Nevis.
Climate:
Tropical.
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Kittitian(s),
Nevisian(s).
Population (2006): 42,696 (31,515 on St. Kitts and 11,181 on
Nevis).
Annual growth
rate (2005):
2.1%.
Ethnic groups: Predominantly of African origin; some of British,
Portuguese,
and Lebanese
descent.
Religions: Principally Anglican, with Evangelical Protestant and
Roman
Catholic
minorities.
Languages: English
(official).
Education (2005): Adult
literacy--97.8%.
Health (2006): Infant mortality rate--18/1,000. Life expectancy--men
66
years; women 73
years.
Unemployment (2006):
5.1%.
Government
Type: Parliamentary democracy; independent sovereign state within
the
Commonwealth.
Constitution:
1983.
Independence: September 19,
1983.
Branches: Executive--governor general (representing Queen Elizabeth
II, head
of state), prime minister (head of government),
cabinet.
Legislative--bicameral Parliament. Judicial--magistrate's courts,
Eastern
Caribbean Supreme Court (High Court and
Court of Appeals), final appeal to
Privy Council in
London.
Administrative subdivisions: 14
parishes.
Political parties: St. Kitts and Nevis Labour Party (ruling),
People's Action
Movement (PAM), Concerned Citizens Movement (a
Nevis-based party), and Nevis
Reformation
Party.
Suffrage: Universal at
18.
Economy
GDP (2005): $453.0
million.
GDP growth rate (2006):
4.6%.
Per capita GDP (2005):
$8,210.
Inflation (2005):
3.6%.
Natural resources:
Negligible.
Agriculture: Sugarcane, rice, yams, bananas, fish, cotton,
peanuts,
vegetables.
Industry: Financial and business services, tourism, construction,
clothing,
footwear, beverages, and
tobacco.
Trade (2005): Exports--$34 million (merchandise) and $139 million
(commercial
services). Major markets--United States (91.9%), EU
(3.0%), Trinidad and
Tobago (2%), Netherlands
Antilles (0.8%), St. Vincent and the Grenadines
(0.3%). Imports--$210 million (merchandise) and $87 million
(commercial
services). Major
suppliers--United States (57.9%), Trinidad and
Tobago
(14.1%), European Union
(9.3%), Japan (3.8%), and Barbados
(2.8%).
Official exchange rate: EC$2.70 = U.S.
$1.
HISTORY
At the time of European discovery, Carib Indians inhabited the
islands of St.
Kitts and Nevis. Christopher Columbus landed on the
larger island in 1493 on
his second voyage and named it after St.
Christopher, his patron saint.
Columbus
also discovered Nevis on his second voyage, reportedly calling it
Nevis because of its resemblance to a snowcapped mountain (in
Spanish,
"nuestra senora de las
nieves" or our lady of the snows).
European
colonization did not begin until 1623-24, when first English, then
French
colonists arrived on St. Christopher's
Island, whose name the English
shortened to St. Kitts Island. As the first English colony in the
Caribbean,
St. Kitts served as a base for further colonization in the
region.
The English and French held St. Kitts jointly from 1628 to 1713.
During the
17th century, intermittent warfare between French
and English settlers
ravaged the
island's economy. Meanwhile Nevis, settled by English settlers in
1628, grew prosperous under English rule. St. Kitts was ceded to
Great
Britain by the Treaty of
Utrecht in 1713. The French seized both St. Kitts
and
Nevis in 1782. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 definitively awarded
both
islands to Britain. They were part of
the colony of the Leeward Islands from
1871-1956, and of the West
Indies Federation from 1958-62. In 1967, together
with Anguilla, they
became a self-governing state in association with Great
Britain; Anguilla seceded late that year and remains a British
dependency.
The Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis
attained full independence on September
19,
1983.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL
CONDITIONS
As head of state, Queen Elizabeth II is represented in St. Kitts and
Nevis by
a governor general, who acts on the advice of the prime
minister and the
cabinet. The prime minister
is the leader of the majority party of the House
of Representatives,
and the cabinet conducts affairs of state. St. Kitts and
Nevis has a
bicameral legislature: An 11-member Senate appointed by
the
governor general (mainly on the
advice of the prime minister and the leader
of the opposition);
and an 11-member popularly elected House
of
Representatives which has eight St. Kitts seats and three Nevis
seats. The
prime minister and the cabinet are responsible
to the
Parliament.
St. Kitts and Nevis has enjoyed a long history of free and fair
elections,
although the outcome of elections in 1993 was
strongly protested by the
opposition
and the Eastern Caribbean Regional Security System (RSS)
was
briefly deployed to restore order.
The elections in 1995 were contested by
the two major
parties, the ruling People's Action Movement (PAM) and the St.
Kitts
and Nevis Labour Party. Labour won seven of the 11 seats, with
Dr.
Denzil Douglas becoming prime minister.
In the March 2000 elections, Denzil
Douglas and the Labour
Party were returned to power, winning eight of the 11
seats in
Parliament. The Nevis-based Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) won
two seats and the Nevis Reformation Party (NRP) won one seat. The PAM
party
was unable to obtain a
seat.
The constitution gives Nevis considerable autonomy. Nevis has an
island
assembly, a premier, and a
deputy governor general. Under certain specified
conditions, it
may secede from the federation. In accordance with its rights
under
the Constitution, in 1996 the Nevis Island Administration under
the
Concerned Citizens' Movement (CCM) of Premier
Vance Amory initiated steps
towards secession from
the Federation, the most recent being a referendum in
1998 that
failed to secure the required two-thirds majority for secession. In
the July 10, 2006 Nevis elections for the Nevis Island Administration,
the
NRP won three of the five seats; the CCM won two. The
NRP's Joseph Parry
assumed the premiership of
Nevis. While opposing secession, the Government
acknowledged the constitutional rights of Nevisians to determine their
future
independence. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of
speech, press,
worship, movement, and association.
Like its neighbors in
the
English-speaking Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis has an excellent
human rights
record. Its judicial system is modeled on British
practice and procedure and
its jurisprudence on English common
law.
Principal Government
Officials
Chief of State--Queen Elizabeth
II
Governor General--Sir Cuthbert M.
Sebastian
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Sustainable Development,
Information
and Technology, Tourism, Culture and Sport--Dr. Denzil
Llewellyn Douglas
Minister of Foreign
Affairs--Dr. Timothy Sylvester
Harris
Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the
OAS--Dr.
Izben
Williams
Ambassador to the UN--Delano
Bart
Principal Nevis Island Government Official, Premier--Joseph
Parry
The embassy of St. Kitts and Nevis is located at 3216 New Mexico
Ave., NW,
Washington, D.C. 20016 (tel.
202-686-2636).
ECONOMY
St. Kitts and Nevis was the last sugar monoculture in the Eastern
Caribbean
until the government decided to close the sugar
industry in 2005, after
decades of
losses at the state-run sugar company. To compensate for the loss
of
the sugar industry, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis has embarked on
a program to diversify the agricultural sector and stimulate the
development
of other sectors of the
economy.
The economy of St. Kitts and Nevis experienced strong growth for most
of the
1990s, but hurricanes in 1998 and 1999 and the September 11,
2001 terrorist
attacks hurt the tourism-dependent economy.
Economic growth picked up in
2004, with a
real GDP growth rate of 6.4%, followed by 4.1% growth in 2005.
Tourism has shown the greatest growth and is now a major foreign
exchange
earner for St. Kitts and Nevis, as
evidenced by an 83% increase in foreign
direct investment
in a range of tourism-related projects. Significant new
investment included a 648-room Marriott hotel and convention center
that
opened in December 2002, as well as
other resort projects. In 2006, the
economy of St. Kitts and Nevis posted growth of 4.6%, mostly as a result
of
diversification into tourism and construction related to the
Cricket World
Cup. The government instituted a program of
investment incentives for
businesses considering the possibility of locating in St. Kitts or
Nevis,
encouraging domestic and foreign private
investment. Government policies
provide
liberal tax holidays, duty-free import of equipment and materials,
and subsidies for training provided to local
personnel.
However, the debt of public enterprises has increased, and total
public debt
is projected to reach 180% in the coming year. Consumer
prices have risen
marginally over the past few
years. The rate of inflation, as measured by the
change in the CPI,
rose on average by 3.6% in 2005, compared with 2.3% in
2004 and 2.2% in
2003.
St. Kitts and Nevis is a member of the Eastern Caribbean Currency
Union
(ECCU). The Eastern Caribbean
Central Bank (ECCB) issues the
Eastern
Caribbean
dollar (EC$) for all members of the ECCU. The ECCB also
manages
monetary policy, and regulates and
supervises commercial banking activities
in its member
countries. The ECCB has kept the EC$ pegged at EC$2.7 to U.S.
$1.
FOREIGN
RELATIONS
St. Kitts and Nevis maintains diplomatic relations with the United
States,
Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Russia,
Taiwan, Cuba and South Korea, as
well as with many Latin American
countries and neighboring Eastern Caribbean
states. It is a member of
the Commonwealth, the United Nations, the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of
American
States, the Organization
of Eastern Caribbean States, the Eastern Caribbean
Regional
Security System (RSS), and the Caribbean Community and Common Market
(CARICOM). The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is headquartered in St. Kitts.
U.S.-ST. KITTS AND NEVIS
RELATIONS
Since St. Kitts and Nevis attained full independence in 1983,
relations with
the United States have been friendly. The United
States seeks to help St.
Kitts and Nevis develop
economically and to help strengthen its moderate,
democratic, parliamentary form of government. St. Kitts and Nevis is
a
beneficiary of the U.S.
Caribbean Basin Initiative. U.S. assistance
is
primarily channeled through
multilateral agencies such as the World Bank and
the Caribbean
Development Bank (CDB), as well as the USAID office
in
Bridgetown,
Barbados. In addition, St. Kitts and Nevis benefits from U.S.
military exercises and humanitarian civic action construction
projects.
St. Kitts and Nevis is strategically placed in the Leeward Islands,
near
maritime transport lanes of major
importance to the United States. St. Kitts
and Nevis' location close
to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands makes
the
two-island federation attractive to narcotics traffickers. To
counter
this threat, the Government of St. Kitts
and Nevis cooperates with the United
States in the fight against
illegal narcotics. In 1995, the Government signed
a maritime law
enforcement treaty with the United States, later amended with
an
overflight/order-to-land amendment in 1996. St. Kitts and Nevis
also
signed an updated extradition
treaty with the United States in 1996, and a
mutual legal
assistance treaty in
1997.
St. Kitts and Nevis is a popular American tourist destination. In
the
aftermath of September
11, 2001, tourism declined, but the islands have seen
growing numbers
of visitors in recent years. Fewer than 1,000 U.S. citizens
reside on the island, although students and staff of Ross
University
Veterinary
School and the Medical University of the Americas
(Nevis)
constitute a
significant population of U.S.
citizens.
Principal U.S. Embassy
Officials
Ambassador--Mary M.
Ourisman
Deputy Chief of Mission--Mary Ellen T.
Gilroy
Political/Economic Counselor--Martina Strong
(Acting)
Consul General--Clyde Howard
Jr.
Regional Labor Attaché--Martina
Strong
Economic-Commercial Affairs--Anthony
Eterno
Public Affairs Officer--Julie
O'Reagan
Peace Corps Director--Kate
Raftery
The United States maintains no official presence in St. Kitts and
Nevis. The
ambassador and embassy officers are resident in Barbados
and frequently
travel to St. Kitts and
Nevis. A U.S. consular agent residing in nearby
Antigua, however, assists U.S. citizens in St. Kitts and
Nevis.
The U.S. Embassy in Barbados is located in the Wildey Business Park,
Wildey,
St. Michael (tel: 246-436-4950; fax: 246-429-5246). Consular
Agent: Rebecca
Simon, Hospital Hill, English Harbor, Antigua
Tel: (268) 463-6531.
Other Contact
Information
U.S. Department of
Commerce
International Trade
Administration
Trade Information
Center
14th and Constitution,
NW
Washington, DC
20230
Tel:
1-800-USA-TRADE
Caribbean/Latin American
Action
1818 N Street, NW, Suite
310
Washington, DC
20036
Tel: (202)
466-7464
Fax: (202)
822-0075
TRAVEL AND BUSINESS
INFORMATION
The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program advises
Americans
traveling and residing abroad through Consular Information
Sheets, Public
Announcements, and Travel Warnings.
Consular Information Sheets exist for all
countries and include
information on entry and exit requirements, currency
regulations, health conditions, safety and security, crime,
political
disturbances, and
the addresses of the U.S. embassies and consulates abroad.
Public
Announcements are issued to disseminate information quickly
about
terrorist threats and other relatively
short-term conditions overseas that
pose significant
risks to the security of American travelers. Travel Warnings
are
issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel
to a certain country because the situation is dangerous or
unstable.
For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling
abroad
should regularly monitor the Department's Bureau
of Consular Affairs Internet
web site at
http://www.travel.state.gov, where the
current Worldwide Caution,
Public Announcements, and Travel Warnings
can be found. Consular Affairs
Publications,
which contain information on obtaining passports and planning a
safe
trip abroad, are also available at
http://www.travel.state.gov.
For
additional information on international
travel, see
http://www.usa.gov/
Citizen/Topics/Travel/International.shtml.
The Department of State encourages all U.S citizens who traveling or
residing
abroad to register via the State Department's travel
registration website or
at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate
abroad. Registration will make your
presence and whereabouts known in
case it is necessary to contact you in an
emergency and will
enable you to receive up-to-date information on security
conditions.
Emergency information concerning Americans traveling abroad may be
obtained
by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and
Canada or the regular
toll line 1-202-501-4444 for
callers outside the U.S. and
Canada.
The National Passport Information Center (NPIC) is the U.S.
Department of
State's single, centralized public
contact center for U.S.
passport
information. Telephone: 1-877-4USA-PPT (1-877-487-2778). Customer
service
representatives and operators for TDD/TTY
are available Monday-Friday, 7:00
a.m. to 12:00 midnight,
Eastern Time, excluding federal
holidays.
Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S.
Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP
(877-394-8747) and a web site at
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm
give the
most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations
or requirements,
and advice on food and drinking water safety for
regions and countries. A
booklet entitled "Health
Information for International Travel"
(HHS
publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S.
Government
Printing Office,
Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202)
512-1800.
Further Electronic
Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at
http://
www.state.gov, the Department of State web
site provides timely, global
access to
official U.S. foreign policy information, including
Background
Notes and daily press briefings
along with the directory of key officers of
Foreign Service
posts and more. The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)
provides
security information and regional news that impact U.S. companies
working abroad through its website
http://www.osac.gov
Export.gov provides a portal to all export-related assistance and
market
information offered by the federal
government and provides trade leads, free
export counseling, help
with the export process, and
more.
STAT-USA/Internet, a service of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
provides
authoritative economic, business, and
international trade information from
the Federal
government. The site includes current and
historical
trade-related releases, international market research, trade
opportunities,
and country analysis and provides access to the
National Trade Data Bank.
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Background
notes
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Saint Kitts and Nevis
