Investment Facilitation for Development: How Caribbean Economies Will Benefit

Event Type
High-Level Regional Roundtable

Location/Date
Online, 10.05.2022

Organiser

International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Commission of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (SRC) of the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus (The UWI Cave Hill) in Barbados, and World Economic Forum (WEF)


This ‘High-Level Regional Roundtable on Investment Facilitation for Development: How Caribbean Economies Will Benefit’ is co-organised by the International Trade Centre (ITC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the Commission of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (SRC) of The University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus (The UWI Cave Hill) in Barbados, and the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Roundtable is convened in the framework of the Investment Facilitation for Development project, jointly implemented by ITC and DIE.  It will take place on 10 May 2022, 16:00pm-18:30pm CET, 10:00am to 12:30pm (Barbados, GMT -4).

The event will be conducted in English.   

This high-level event is meant to offer a platform for a strategic exchange on the negotiations on an Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) Agreement in the World Trade Organisation (WTO), launched in September 2020 after over two years of preparatory discussions. The negotiations bring together over 110 WTO Members at all levels of development, aiming to conclude the text negotiations by the end of 2022.[1] Currently, the following Members from Caribbean Economies are participating: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Suriname.

High-level policy makers, government officials, private sector representatives, and eminent academic scholars will participate in the Roundtable, to be updated on the negotiations and to raise awareness on their progress and reflect on how countries may best make use of the IFD Agreement to enhance their business climate, attract higher value-added investment and boost economic growth, digital economy innovations and sustainable development. This reflection process also seeks to help participants to ensure that their countries’ international engagement is in line with their sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their national reform agendas.

This process is particularly important and timely as a working group led by the WTO secretariat and comprised of leading international organisations active in the field is preparing an 'Investment Facilitation Self-Assessment Guide' to help WTO Members self-assess their needs and priorities for the effective implementation of the future IFD Agreement and the technical assistance and capacity building needs associated with implementation. Need assessments are expected to begin in the second half of this year.

The Roundtable will provide a brief background on the focus and progress of the IFD Agreement negotiations and explore the benefits and challenges of an IFD Agreement for Caribbean economies.

The overall objective of this Roundtable is to facilitate a discussion of the issues surrounding the IFD Agreement. It will be held under the Chatham House Rule to facilitate open and results-oriented discussions.

PROGRAMME

Opening

Chair

  • Rajesh Aggarwal, Director (oic), Division for Market Development, ITC

 

Speakers

  • Dorothy Tembo, Deputy Executive Director, ITC
  • Fabrizio Opertti, Manager, Integration and Trade Sector, IDB
  • Mario Cimoli, Acting Executive Secretary, ECLAC
  • Jan Yves Remy, Director, SRC UWI
  • Paul Smyke, Head of the Regional Agenda, North America and Member of the Executive Committee, WEF

 

Guest address

  • Anabel González, Deputy Director-General, WTO

 

2nd Session: The value added of an Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement – A Caribbean perspective

Chair

  • Karl P. Sauvant, Resident Senior Fellow, Columbia University, CCSI

 

Speakers

The state of play of the WTO negotiations on an Investment Facilitation Framework for Development

  • Mathias Francke, Ambassador of Chile to the WTO, Coordinator of the Structured Discussions on Investment Facilitation for Development

 

Why join the negotiations?

  • Hon. Ian Douglas, Minister of Trade, Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Business and Export Development, Dominica

 

What is the value-added of a WTO Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement?

  • Joel Richards, Senior Technical Specialist, Trade Permanent Delegation of the OECS in Geneva

 

An investor’s perspective on the    importance of investment facilitation

  • Heba Shams, Mastercard Vice President for Global Public Policy and Fellow of the Policy Center for the Digital Economy

 

Which investment facilitation measures are most important

  • Ronald Theodore, Director and CEO of the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC)

 

3rd Session: The importance of investment facilitation for promoting development in the Caribbean

Chair

  • Matthew Stephenson, Head of Investment Policy and Practice, World Economic Forum

 

Speakers 

How important is investment facilitation for Belize?

  • Hon. Christopher Coye, Minister of State, Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment, Belize  

 

How important is investment facilitation for Guyana?

  • Hon. Ashni Singh, Senior Minister, Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Ministry of Finance, Guyana

 

Recent developments regarding investment facilitation in the Caribbean countries

  • Chantal Ononaiwu, Trade Policy and Legal Specialist, External Trade, CARICOM Secretariat, Directorate of the CARICOM Single Mare and External Trade

 

An investor’s perspective on the importance of investment facilitation

  • Gervase Warner, President and Chief Executive Officer, Massy Group [TBC]

 

Which investment facilitation measures are most important

  • Diane Edwards, President JAMPRO

 

Concluding remarks


[1] Participating Members reflect a wide geographic representation – the majority being developing countries (77) including 20 least-developed country (LDC) Members.  The current list of participating Members is available here.


Hinweis / Please note

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Event information

Date / h
10.05.2022 / 16:00 - 18:30

Location

Online

Contact

Photo: Dr. Axel Berger Deputy Director (interim)

Dr. Axel Berger
Deputy Director (interim)

 

E-mail Axel.Berger@idos-research.de
Phone +49 (0)228 94927-112