Government has announced that a new entity to be called Export Dominica will be established in the new financial year.
Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit told the House on Tuesday that the new entity will replace the Dominica Export Import agency (DEXIA).
“By diverting the resources currently utilized by DEXIA to the new agency, greater value will be realized if some of these resources are used to support and sustain for example, the livelihoods of the thousands of workers in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors who were intended to be the principal beneficiaries of DEXIA’s mandate in the first instance,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister says this move is in keeping with Government’s new thrust to increase economic performance through exports.
“Madame Speaker, the sole purpose of this change is to support all the investments in agriculture that I referred to earlier in manufacturing or agro-processing- whether it is from small or medium-sized business, we must produce and we must export. We must earn foreign exchange that will help finance the activities of the country.”
In addition, Prime Minister Skerrit told the House that Export Dominica will focus on export facilitation.
“The entity will be required to plan and execute its work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, manufacturers, producers and cultural products and other enterprises with the potential to export.”
The Prime Minister said further that the development of an export culture and the transformation of Dominica’s export sector are critical elements in Dominica’s quest to achieve sustained economic growth. He reminded the House that the process of doing so has been set in motion with the development of the National Export Council (NES) and the more recent establishment of the National Export Council.