Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government on Friday concluded a series of meetings with New York City business executives in their thrust to promote the Caribbean Region as an attractive investment destination.
At a press conference at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Wall Street, New York, USA, Friday afternoon, Heads of Government expressed satisfaction with the trade and investment encounters and noted that it was their intention to promote a two-way approach where the US private sector would invest in the Region, and Regional companies would be given access to the American market.
To this end, incoming Chairman of CARICOM, the Hon. Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda said he was pleased with the commitment by the Empire State Development Corporation on New York to extend assistance to Caribbean companies wishing to enter the US market.
The encounters to promote the Region as an attractive investment destination began Friday at a Breakfast and Investment Meeting with top New York City executives at Investment House, Goldman Sachs & Co, New York.
The Breakfast and Investment Meeting, hosted by New York City Partnership, was one of the sessions of the two-day New York Conference on the Caribbean: A 20/20 Vision Continued. Current Chairman of the Conference of the Heads of Government, the Rt Hon. Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Mr Spencer, the Hon. David Thompson, Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, the Hon. Stephenson King, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, and the Hon. Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, headed their delegations to the early morning meeting. The delegation from the CARICOM Secretariat was headed by H.E. Lolita Applewhaite, Deputy Secretary-General and included H.E. Irwin LaRocque, Assistant Secretary-General Trade and Economic Integration and Dr. Maurice Odle, Economic Adviser to the Secretary General.
Heads of Government approached the trade and investment talks with New York City officials, Wall Street executives and other business leaders with the intention of boosting Foreign Direct Investment flows to the Caribbean against the background of the movement away from preferential arrangements, the establishment of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), and the fact that the United States was the most important Regional trading partner.
The Breakfast Meeting discussed the `Role of International Financial Institutions in Assisting Small States to Achieve Competitive Advantage in the Global Marketplace’.
Later in the morning, the CARICOM delegation visited the NYSE, were hosted to lunch, and participated in working sessions at which the establishment of a Regional Stock Exchange was among the important discussion points.
Prime Minister Spencer told representatives of the media that the Breakfast and Investment Meeting was an “extremely stimulating session” where Heads of Government were very candid about the issues that affected the Region.
The Regional delegations, he said, pointed to the important role of the US Private Sector in the development of the Caribbean. The businessmen, he said, told the meeting that it would be a dividend for the United States if the Caribbean Region remained safe and prosperous.
According to Mr. Thompson, the value of the encounters should not be underestimated, given the important officials with whom the delegations interacted and the networking for financial development in the Region.
Trade and Investment, and Education, are the three key issues of the New York Conference on the Caribbean which continued on Friday evening with a Diaspora session at York College in Queens. The Heads of Government are scheduled to have a breakfast session with United States Congressman the Hon Charles Rangel on Saturday morning prior to a press conference which will bring the New York Conference on the Caribbean to a close.
