(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown,
Guyana) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary
General H.E. Edwin Carrington reiterated Thursday that
competitiveness was critical to the survival of the
Region and must be the underlying theme of the
Conference on the Caribbean.
The Secretary General was responding to questions
from the media during a press briefing on 14 June on
the Conference to be held in Washington DC 19-21
June.
“If we have not laid the foundation to enhance
our competitiveness, we would not have moved very
far, because as we all know, political preferences
are out. At the end of the day, policies would be
influenced by interests, but if you are competitive,
if you can hold your own in any market, then you
have a chance of surviving and even prospering.
“And that to me is one of the messages I hope we
leave Washington with: that competitiveness is the
name of the game and that we are on the road to
achieving that,” the Secretary General said.
The Private Sector Dialogue, the Experts Forum
and the Diaspora Forum, he added, must all point to
that issue of competitiveness under a chapeau of
policy initiatives jointly agreed to that would
stimulate the Region towards more competitive
production.
On 19 June, the first day of the three-day
Conference, there will be a Joint Session of Experts
Forum and Private Sector Dialogue at the World Bank
under the themes 'International Competitiveness of
Caribbean Countries' and 'Energy for
Competitiveness'. The topic of Competitiveness will
be explored again during the Private Sector Forum at
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on
Wednesday 20 June. A range of issues will be
discussed at that meeting under the theme
'US-Caribbean Trade: Opportunities for Growth'.
According to Ambassador Ellsworth John, Chairman
of the Caucus of Ambassadors in Washington, as part
of the dialogue on the private sector, the Region
"will be looking at mechanisms for funding
entrepreneurs, both in the Region and for persons in
the Diaspora who are interested in investing in the
Caribbean.”"
Discussions will also be held on eliminating the
trade barriers between the US and the Caribbean. The
private sector forum will provide an opportunity for
the Regional policy makers to interact with the
Diaspora who are interested in becoming more
involved in the Region, he said.
CONTACT: piu@caricom.org
