Existing reports and plans such as the Blue Ribbon Commission Report on Immigration and the newly prepared Tourism Strategic Plan will be absorbed into the 10 year National Development Plan. In between the first and second workshops, a major task of the consultants will be coordinating the programme and project ideas of the people and phasing and scheduling them in line with available resources.

Planning a nation’s future is an exciting time in any country’s history. This is especially so in the Turks and Caicos Islands where over the past twenty years the country has made tremendous progress, but serious imbalances persist between the various islands and social groups. By better coordinating and prioritizing resources and activities in both the public and private sectors, planning enables us to address these imbalances and to correct glaring problems so as to produce a better quality society providing greater opportunities and higher incomes in a cleaner, safer environment. It is envisaged that the preparation of the first phase of the plan will take about 9 months. It will culminate with a major Development/Investment Conference.

The planning exercise will be officially launched on Oct. 27, 2005 at the Beaches Resort, Providenciales by Chief Minister Hon. Michael Misick.