TURKS AND CAICOS POST CABINET MEETING STATEMENT
His Excellency the Governor, Peter Beckingham, chaired the 28th meeting of the Cabinet on Wednesday, 4 November 2015, at the Hon. N J S Francis Building in Grand Turk.
All Ministers were present except the Hon. Deputy Premier and the Hon. Minister of Border Control and Employment. At this meeting Cabinet:
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Advised His Excellency the Governor to approve the Banking (Special Provisions) (Repeal) Ordinance 2015 to be introduced at the next meeting of the House of Assembly;
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Advised His Excellency the Governor to approve a proposal by CIBC First Caribbean International Bank offering preferential conversion rates of inbound Euros to US dollars in respect of draw downs of Euros from the European Union’s EDF 10 Project Fund and to approve the signing of a contract with the Bank to that effect by TCIG;
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Advised His Excellency the Governor to amend the Customs Tariff to reduce import customs duties from 30% to zero on the import of CCTV security video equipment for domestic and commercial properties;
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Advised His Excellency the Governor to give approval for the Attorney General’s Chambers to proceed with the drafting of Common Reporting Standard (CRS) legislation and regulations to enable global reporting under the Automatic Exchange of Financial Information on Tax Matters to be submitted to the Financial Services Industry for consultation before tabling in the House of Assembly;
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Noted a positive financial performance by the Turks and Caicos Islands Government for the second quarter of the financial year 2015/16;
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Agreed that Ministers should reconvene as a matter of priority to consider major capital and other projects to be carried out this financial year which would be included in a supplementary budget appropriation;
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Approved the recommendations of the Department of Planning to establish designated zones on Providenciales for the construction of new developments up to 12 storeys on specified coastal parcels of not less than five acres in the tourism related development zone at Grace Bay, the Bight and Turtle Cove stretching from Emerald Point to Turtle Cove; and on specified coastal parcels of not less than five acres on the northern coastline of North West Point and instructed the Department of Planning to amend the TCI Development Manual accordingly;
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Discussed the resumption of flights to South Caicos and agreed to convene a further meeting of Cabinet on 12 November to resolve wider air services issues.
Further information on these matters will be provided by Ministers in due course.