The purpose of this project is to collect information on St. Vincent’s human environment, political and economic situation, legal framework, and investment promotion, etc. In addition, this project also seeks to analyze the niche industries in which businessmen from Taiwan can invest in this country.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines are situated in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea. The country is located between St. Lucie and Grenada, and consists of 30 islands, being also referred to as the “pearl of the Caribbean.” Because St. Vincent is well located, it has attracted a large number of American visitors every year, which has stimulated the growth of its tourism industry.
Besides the tourism industry, St. Vincent’s main economic activities still consist of agricultural products, such as bananas, coconuts and taro, etc. Manufacturing industry is not very well developed in St. Vincent, and the scale of operations is still very small and limited to the cost structure factors. Since products are not competitive in terms of prices, most of the industry and the people still largely rely on imports. St. Vincent has in recent years actively adopted promotional policies in relation to her tourism industry and agriculture, etc. As for agriculture, the export value of agricultural products accounts for 50% of total export value.
Among the various products, bananas are the main export item, accounting for 30.6% of the export value. The products are mainly sold to the U.K. as well as other countries in the Caribbean. However, St. Vincent has in recent years faced competition from other countries, especially lowprice competitors from other Latin American countries. For this reason, the government of St. Vincent is encouraging agriculture to develop in a pluralistic direction, with a view to promoting the upgrading and diversification of the domestic agriculture industry with a combination of new technology and an enlargement of capital construc
