The government of Trinidad and Tobago, in cooperation with the Commonwealth Business Council and the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association, are planning to host the XIII Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF) and the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) from May 16 to 19, 2012, in Port of Spain.
For over a decade, this high level forum has gathered a large number of business leaders, public elected officials and successful entrepreneurs from neighbouring Caribbean countries, as well as from the Americas, to share their vision and propose mutual projects that could soon be implemented in Trinidad and Tobago. This island nation is strategically located a few miles from the eastern shorelines of Venezuela, equipped with an economy that is mainly focused on the production of oil, liquefied natural gas, fisheries and cement manufacturing.
In the past, the Caribbean Investment Forum has had regular visitors from the Americas such as Brazil, Dominical Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, as well as from the Far East including China and India, as well as European Union member countries.
The upcoming investment forum will encompass and encourage high level panel discussions and bilateral meetings that will cover an array of vital investment sectors, which happen to form an integral part of the present economic development in the Caribbean region, such as energy, financial services, agribusiness, tourism, manufacturing, timber, fisheries and petrochemicals production.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s administration is redesigning a strategy to better administer and utilize its natural resources. The country is surrounded by vast reserves of natural gas, comprising of more than 481 billion cubic meters in one location and a recently discovered second area that could be the source of over 566 million cubic meters of natural gas. According to a study conducted in the 1980s, a conclusion was reached that Trinidad and Tobago contained over 0.3 percent of world’s gas reserves and supplied the international market with 0.2 percent of the world’s natural gas production.
According to Financial Times, Trinidad and Tobago is the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the United States and one of the top countries in the world in LNG production. These highly priced natural resources bond well with the Persad-Bissessar administration, which has constantly demonstrated its interest in fostering stronger ties with the United States. She has therefore been hesitant to follow the line of some of her Caribbean colleagues, who have often been supportive of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s regional economic initiatives and socialist reforms.
Every citizen in Trinidad and Tobago makes on average more than $18,000 per year and the island is renowned for being an outstanding investment location among the Caribbean islands, as well as for reaping the benefits of a stable economy that has experienced an impressive growth of over 8 percent during the last decade.
Strategic investments in LNG processing have encouraged an inevitable growth in the island’s fiscal stability and on its inhabitants’ ability to open savings accounts and improve their living conditions. Trinidad and Tobago takes pride in being the regional leader in oil and gas production; moreover it is also a major supplier of food and beverage products, cement and various manufactured commodities to neighbouring islands.
The second major event of this regional gathering will be the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) that will be hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association in Port of Spain. This has traditionally been the largest trade show among Caribbean countries and it will gather hundreds of business leaders, manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, representatives of financial institutions, as well as venture capitalists and investors.
The TIC will be focused on improving inter-regional trade cooperation and fostering partnerships between Trinidadian manufacturers and their counterparts in the Caribbean and South America.
Chairman the TIC, Anthony Aboud, has estimated that over US$500 million has been created by these annual forums that have been organized during the past decade.
In April 2011, Aboud stated, “The convention is a success story with a tradition of growth and real business success. We estimate that TIC has facilitated over $0.5 billion in trade over the past 11 years. That’s just over US$450 million.”
Aboud added, “[this] is the best example of a working partnership between the public and private sectors. The success of partnership [that] brings together, government, private sector and commercial sponsors, like First Citizens Bank and the government through the Ministry of Trade, and this is one of the reasons why TIC grows every year from strength to strength.”
Trinidad and Tobago Trade Minister Stephen Cadiz believes that the upcoming Caribbean Investment Forum will contribute towards further projecting Trinidad and Tobago into a more sustainable development stage. According to Cadiz, “The main objective of this forum is to have Trinidad and Tobago transform its economy as well as establish this island nation as a trade and investment center of the region.”
