PRESS RELEASE - Saint Lucia has been identified as one of the countries outside the US, where companies will locate five to ten years from now.
That’s according to readers of Site Selection Magazine – an influential publication that highlights corporate real estate strategy and area economic development.
Location consultants and experts in foreign direct investment from around the world, were asked where they would consider locating their investment in the next ten years, and why. Aside from Belize, Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti, Saint Lucia was rated as one of the choice locations in the Central/South America and Caribbean region.
Among the attributes identified for the feature ‘Locations of the Future’, survey respondents highlighted a large population with a burgeoning middle class; political and economic stability; an industrious, well-educated workforce; and quality infrastructure as some of the incentives to investing in one regional location over another.
According to Patty Rasmussen, Senior Editor of Site Selection, “The survey asked site selectors with expertise in a variety of industries to tell us where they believed new sector clusters would locate five to ten years down the road, and why they would likely emerge there.” She explained, “We asked the respondents to identify their top three areas of expertise. Next, we asked the respondents to identify – not rank – the locations within six regions they believed would be home to new clusters in those sectors in the next five to ten years, based on their knowledge of the sectors. We also asked them to briefly explain what made the location appealing.”
“In a tie with Eastern Europe,” she continued, “31.4% of respondents selected the Central/South America and the Caribbean and cited ‘an educated workforce, the economic expansion of the region aided by the anticipated increase in traffic due to the widening of the Panama Canal and a growing middle class as some of the reasons behind the decision to invest in the logistics, automotive and chemical clusters.” Learn more at http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2015/jul/fdi-outlook.cfm
Saint Lucia sought to further influence this perception through its advertorial on page 97 of the July 2015 edition of Site Selection. The island is being actively promoted as a destination of choice for foreign direct investment through the efforts of Invest Saint Lucia, the agency charged with promoting, stimulating and facilitating investment.