United States investors will be seeking once again to take the investment ‘temperature’ of the Caribbean when the region’s ministers sit down with high-rolling investors at the June 9 Invest-ment Caribbean Power Breakfast at the New York Marriot Marquis Hotel.
The forum, which is being coordinated by the Caribbean Tourism Organiza-tion (CTO) in collaboration with the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CACCI) and Hard Beat Communication, marks yet another initiative designed to woo foreign investment to the region.
A month before the keenly anticipated forum, the investment prospects for the region are already being ‘talked up’ by the chairman and chief executive officer of a major US real estate firm. “The Caribbean is, now more than ever, a unique investment opportunity,” says David Brillembourg, Chairman of the private equity real estate firm Brilla Group.
Brillembourg is billed as one of the major speakers on the panel scheduled to address the June 9 meeting. Brilla’s investment are focused primarily on interests in luxury beachfront hotels and resorts in the region, and the prominence of this investment group at the breakfast suggests that the regional tourism sector continues to be a central attraction for extra-regional investors.
Goldman Sachs Vice President W. Dave Dowrich, New York City Comp-troller John Liu as well as investors and hedge fund managers are also billed to address the forum.
Caribbean governments will be hoping that this latest initiative designed to increase foreign direct investment in the region will bear fruit in the wake of strong growth in the region last year. In the first quarter of 2010 foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean jumped to US$20.8 billion, from US$5.5 billion in the first quarter of 2009. China alone reported a total of nearly US$7 billion in foreign direct investment in the region last year, an increase of more than 300 per cent from the 2004 level of US$1.7 billion.
Foreign investors, however, have been selective in their choice of investments in the Caribbean. While investments in the hotel and hospitality and tourism industries have signalled a post-global economic and financial crisis demand for the regional tourism product in North America in Europe, less success has resulted from efforts to secure foreign investment in the region’s agricultural sector despite robust official efforts led by Guyana’s President Bharrat Jagdeo. Investment in agriculture in the Caribbean is generally considered to be risky in view of unpredictable weather patterns, unreliable drainage and irrigation facilities in some territories and the absence of a structured regime of agricultural risk insurance.
Brillembourg, however, appears to see beyond the challenges that have proven to be a disincentive to investment in the region. “The Caribbean is a unique and long-lasting investment,” he added, insisting that anyone serious about investment should get on board.
He reiterated that the region looks solid throughout with lots of opportunities out there.
Brillembourg, who has been investing in the United States, Central and South America for more than 20 years, believes that this is “a wonderful time” to be in the Caribbean.
