What is being seen by both governments and the private sector in the region as perhaps the most significant business gathering convened in the Caribbean since the receding of the COVID-19 pandemic had its virtual launch earlier this week, reportedly attracting, more than 400 participants from 36 countries seeking to participate in an initial forum designed to set the tone for the actual deliberations in Port of Spain next month.
Set against the backdrop of building resilience and boosting investment in the region, the November forum is expected to provide instructive insights into the disposition of the regional and international private sectors to making meaningful investments in a region said to have been among those worldwide that bore much of the social and economic brunt of the pandemic.
Earlier this week a media report out of Barbados labelled the November forum as an invitation to “hundreds of businesses and investors from across the world… to help build a “SMARTer, GREENer Caribbean” though, equally, the forum itself is also likely to feature hard-nosed assessments of the viability of business opportunities. Contextually, what all too frequently, is the political polemic that characterises meetings of CARICOM government officials, is likely to be considerably toned down in Port of Spain.
The Barbados media report stated that the virtual launch earlier this week afforded participants the opportunity to hear “details about the dynamic agenda for the business-focused event” which it said would “bring together key decision-makers, foreign-direct investors, government agencies” in a gathering that would “engage and connect for the benefit of the region.”
The November forum and its outcomes in terms of commitments that are made to invest in Caribbean economies could have an important bearing on the wider regional response to the recent revelation by the World Bank’s Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, William Maloney, that the region’s economies remain, up until now, unrecovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The November Port of Spain forum will reportedly focus on four key growth sectors for the region, namely AgTech, renewable energy, transportation and logistics, and digital business. Its focus, the organizers say, will be on “building regional resilience, establishing long-term jobs, and championing sustainable development.”
Speaking at the virtual launch earlier this week, Deodat Maharaj, Executive Director of Caribbean Export, one of the key regional agencies involved in the planning of the forum, was reported as saying that the Port of Spain deliberations were timely given the fact that “business and investment have an absolutely critical role to play in driving transformation” in the Caribbean. “The last two years have demonstrated to us more than ever that building resilience must be the top priority of our region. The COVID-19 pandemic placed enormous stress on our economies and societies… it is crystal clear that we need to have a forensic focus on sectors that can drive and advance this transformation.”
The outcomes of the deliberations in Port of Spain are expected to throw regional governments and the private sector together to collectively address what is expected to be the fulsome agenda that will arise out of the meeting. This, against the backdrop of an already existing regional agenda that focuses on, among other things, expanding the agriculture and agro-processing sectors in the Caribbean and strengthening the intra-regional transport infrastructure to enable an improved system for the intra-regional movement of food items.
