Day 2 of in-country activities as part of the Caribbean Development Bank’s 52ndAnnual Meeting of the Board of Governors continues today with several events.
The day’s events started this morning with an interview of African Development Bank (ADB) President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who sat down with regional journalist, Mr. Julian Rogers to talk about the development challenges facing the Caribbean region and some possible solutions using examples from Africa.
Dr. Adesina expressed his passion for seeing nations lift themselves out of poverty, mentioning how greater collaboration can significantly aid in this effort. Being a former Nigerian Minister of Agriculture, he explained the importance of Caribbean countries increasing their agricultural development and seeing the industry as a transformative tool in economic development. He said that there’s no dignity in countries begging for food and that the Caribbean needs to be able to feed itself.
Dr. Adesina added that one key challenge the Caribbean region faces is the economic loss due to shocks from climate shocks, stating that the region loses around USD$3 billion dollars a year because of this. The President noted that the region needs to build economic resilience and one way the African Development Bank is helping Africa deal with a similar challenge is through the development of the African Financial Mechanism to avoid the possible resulting continual debt cycle by creating a financial buffer.
The interview is a precursor to this evening’s 22nd William G. Demas Lecture, where Dr. Adesina is the featured speaker. The topic for the annual lecture is, ‘Development in a Context of Global Challenges: Experiences and Lessons from the African Development Bank’. The lecture will be streamed lived at 7:30pm from Beaches Turks & Caicos via all CDB digital platforms and via Radio Turks & Caicos.
Also, taking place today as part of the CBD activities is a webinar on the titled ‘Budgeting for Sustainable Development and will also be streamed live from Beaches Turks & Caicos Resort at 2:30pm. The webinar will feature such panelists as Trinidad & Tobago Minister of Planning and Development, HonourablePennelope Beckles-Robinson; Republic Financial Holdings Limited General Manager, Richard S. Sammy; Chief Executive Officer of Climate Resilience Execution Agency for Dominica, Francine Baron; and Inter-Regional Advisor for The Partnership in Statistics for Development, Cathy Krűger.
