The Caribbean private sector consortium – Connect Caribe – was yesterday launched and it anticipates that it will secure the US$50 million needed to make a modern regional cargo and ferry service a reality by the end of this year.
And while they are working with CARICOM and individual governments to ensure smooth passage as it relates to the CARICOM Single Market & Economy and regulatory frameworks, the service is different from the one CARICOM has in mind.
Connect Caribe’s planned service would complement CARICOM’s planned regional transport system. “We have done this in a synergist approach with CARICOM,” Chairman and Founder of Pleion Group Inc and Upturn Funds Caribbean, Dr Andre Thomas yesterday said at a press conference in Barbados.