Trinidad and Tobago will host about 2,000 foreign and local public and private sector representatives in Port of Spain when the country holds the Americas Competitiveness Forum (ACF) next year.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar made the announcement yesterday at the transition ceremony of the Inter-American Competitive Network in Panama City, Panama.
She said the forum in 2014 in Trinidad and Tobago will host “some of the most influential public and private sector representatives from the Americas”. She said the ACF had become “the Western Hemisphere’s preeminent event for government and business leaders to discuss innovative methods to achieve economic competitiveness and promote innovation in our hemisphere”.
“Our expectation is that we will host 2,000 delegates comprising 1,500 international and regional participants and 500 from Trinidad and Tobago,” Persad-Bissessar added.
She said education was of special significance to us in Trinidad and Tobago “where we are investing in training a workforce that would be ready to face the challenges of the 21st century where globalisation has redefined the rules of trade and opened greater opportunities for even small states like ours”.
“When we meet in Port of Spain next year, we will continue what we have started and deal with the human imagination at work and how this is driving competitiveness and powering innovation,” she added.
Cabinet has set the dates for the eighth ACF as October 8 to 10, 2014.
“Our conference facilities are comparable with the best in the hemisphere. But even more important, coming to Port of Spain would be an opportunity to immerse yourself in our cultural mosaic that is a microcosm of our world,” Persad-Bissessar said.
“We are two islands that offer the luxuries and facilities of a bustling metropolis on the one hand, and serenity and relaxation on the other. We stand side by side, gems of the Caribbean Sea, an outstanding model to the world of harmony in diversity.”
Persad-Bissessar returns to Trinidad this afternoon.
