Above: St Lucia

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Taiwan and St Lucia are mulling a yachting sector partnership that could reach several billion dollars, the government announced.

The news comes after a visit to the country by Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou last week. The aim is to encourage Taiwanese to use St Lucia as a hub to market yachts built in Taiwan.

“Taiwan is world renowned as a yacht building nation amongst other things and we believe … we can learn from [Taiwan] in terms of your yacht building and maintenance techniques which are vital for the provision of the ancillary services related to the ever growing yachting sector,” said Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus. “Taiwan can also benefit from our increased presence in the world market as a yacht haven and use Saint Lucia as a hub to market yachts built in Taiwan.”

Taiwan is the fourth-largest mega-yacht producer in the world.

“We propose further  that we can offer an incentive registration and berthing of yachts purchased from Taiwan amongst a variety of other initiatives which include joint marketing that will result in fiscal benefits for both of us,” Theophilus said.

St Lucia’s government said it had moved to set up a Yachting Registration Desk in the country, and is also planning to establish maritime training programmes at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College.