Institutions representing more than US$24 trillion in assets under management, lending capacity and balance sheet strength participated in the inaugural Caribbean Economic Forum (CEF) held in Barbados last week, organisers have said.
According to a release from ACERO CAPITAL, the forum, which was held from June 18 to 19 at the Hilton Barbados Resort, brought together international investors, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, central bank governors, government ministers, corporate executives and project sponsors to discuss investment opportunities across the Caribbean.
The organisers said the event was designed to position the Caribbean as a unified, investment-ready market capable of attracting larger flows of institutional capital.
Among those participating were representatives from financial institutions, private equity firms, export credit agencies and sovereign entities from the Caribbean, Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Founder of the Caribbean Economic Forum and Managing Partner of ACERO CAPITAL, Gregory N. Hill, said the initiative was intended to challenge perceptions of the region as a collection of small and fragmented markets.
“For too long, the global community has misread the Caribbean as a collection of small, isolated markets,” Hill said. “The Caribbean is one of the world’s most strategic investment frontiers.”
He said the forum sought to reposition the region as a single investment destination capable of attracting institutional capital through stronger project preparation, innovative financing structures and partnerships involving governments, multilateral institutions and the private sector.
The forum featured a number of panel discussions on investment, resilience and economic development. One session, titled “Ministerial Cap Table: Attracting Capital and Foreign Direct Investment at a National Scale,” examined ways Caribbean countries can compete more effectively for international investment.
Participants included Barbados Minister of Finance Ryan Straughn, Saint Lucia Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Sustainable Development Lisa Jawahir, Panama’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States Ana Irene Delgado, IDB Invest Principal Officer for Blended Finance Elee Muslin and RBC BlueBay Asset Management Managing Director Graham Stock.
Another session focused on governance, resilience and risk mitigation and featured Central Bank of Barbados Governor Kevin Greenidge, Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago Governor Larry Howai, Bank of Guyana Governor Gobind Ganga, Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Services Commission of Barbados Warrick Ward and representatives of the World Bank Group’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).
According to the release, discussions during the two-day event centred on mobilising investment for infrastructure, energy, climate resilience, technology, food security, logistics, financial services and the blue economy.
The organisers said the forum sought to accelerate investment opportunities by bringing together project developers and financiers and facilitating discussions aimed at converting project proposals into bankable transactions.
The Caribbean Economic Forum is expected to become a recurring platform for engagement between governments, investors and development partners seeking to increase investment flows into the region.
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