he restriction on this however is that there is provision in the Bill for the Minister to designate certain areas of the country where a foreign investor must obtain a licence regardless of the size of the land. No licences are required for a foreign investor who wants to obtain land not exceeding five acres for trade or business. A foreign investor can also invest in private companies with a minimum of involvement by the Government and also in public companies up to 50% of the shares before it is deemed foreign owned.
5.
The strongest point of the new Bill, according to Dr Tewarie, is that it removes the bureaucratic hostility faced by potential foreign investors. In his address to the Anglo/Trinidadian Business Group on 17 April he stressed that not only should the letter of the Bill be considered but also the spirit in which it will be applied. Large scale foreign investment will still be subject to licencing procedures but the Government intends to bring all of the bureaucracy under one roof so that industrial development applications will be processed quickly.
6.
Although the Government's Caricom and Foreign Investment Bill first introduced in the Senate seemed to offer little improvement on the Aliens Landholding Act and sent all the wrong signals to potential foreign investors they now seem to be giving full support to the much amended Bill which has emerged from the Senate. A "hard sell" of Trinidad and Tobago as, what one local newspaper headline has called, "a paradise for investors" seems to be underway. Dr Tewarie has said that Trinidad and Tobago is going to follow up the passage of the Bill with investment missions to countries which have been targetted as potential invest- ment centres which will bring people to Trinidad and Tobago. One of these missions is planned to the Far East to woo investors who have in the past expressed interest in investment in Trinidad and Tobago but have been deterred by the bureaucratic procedures. The Government also hopes that the Export Processing Zone which until now has failed to attract hardly any foreign investment (there is only one American firm in the zone at the moment) will now play a more prominent role in attracting investors.
7.
As a footnote to all this it was reported recently that the Government has received an offer of TT$ 3 billion in investment from a consortium of 250 Hong Kong businessmen who are seeking to re-locate to Trinidad and Tobago. The consortium is said to have first approached the private sector who referred the request to the Government. The Government have expressed keen interest in the idea and it is reported that the businessmen will be offered resident status rather than citizenship as the latter involves complicated legal procedures in return for the investment. The proposal will be followed up by Dr Tewarie on the Far East trip mentioned above which is expected to take place soon although no firm dates have yet been revealed.
Yours every Terry
TR KNIGHT
c.c.
Jeanette Blanche, OT4, DTI