Having already significantly paraded its credentials as a noteworthy regional asset, mostly through its highly publicized efforts to seek to forge closer business ties between Africa and the Caribbean, the Barbados-based Caribbean Export Agency (Caribbean Export) has made public an opening for Barbadian firms pursuing projects on the island to access what the August 1 issue of the Barbados Nation says are “millions of dollars” in investment funding for those projects. The Nation article says that the funding is targeting “large projects with national or regional reach” seeking capital investment exceeding $US1 million, naming agricultural technology, logistics and transport, information/communication technology and renewable energy as the disciplines being targeted for the envisaged investment.
The Nation article notes that the offer of funding for development projects in Barbados comes ahead of the October 23-25 Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF 2023) scheduled to be staged in the Bahamas. The article quotes Caribbean Export as saying that “the Investment Villages are a major component of CIF and will be a focus of the international communications campaign to attract investors and businesses to the event. CIF2023 will host four investment villages, each focused on one of the key sectors (AgTech, ICT, renewable energy and logistics and shipping) and provide a platform for large-scale bankable projects to be presented to the attending investment audience,” the Nation Report adds.
Back in June, the Stabroek Business received a ‘Brief’ from Caribbean Export’s Barbados headquarters regarding its trade and investment mission to West Africa, alluding to the signing of three (3) Memoranda of Understandings (MOU’S) between the Caribbean and Ghana, in the course of its Caribbean/West Africa Trade Mission aimed at “fostering collaboration and exploring trade opportunities” between the Caribbean and Ghana.”
The MOU’s, Caribbean Export’s communication with the Stabroek had said, seeks to serve as a prerequisite to increased trade between Ghana and the Caribbean. “At CIF 2023, approved projects will be afforded the opportunity to present investment proposals to would-be investors. According to Caribbean Export, “CIF will have vetted investors from across the world with an active interest in developing partnerships and investing in projects in the Caribbean, providing an unprecedented opportunity for interested businesses who are seeking to raise capital investments.”
