AT A GLANCE

January 2014

View Video To See How The CGF Is Working.

CARIBBEAN GROWTH FORUM:

A national and regional strategy for sustainable
growth and quality jobs.

The CGF has introduced an innovative and more collaborative way of articulating public policy, by means of an inclusive, transparent and participatory engagement to debate and agree on the reform priorities for each country and for the region as a whole.

Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF)

Accountability Workshop in Dominican Republic Addresses Fundamental Topics

The first CGF Accountability Workshop was held in December in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic before an engaged audience of more than 200 persons including high ministerial and governmental officials, private sector representatives, academia and civil society organizations.

Aside from making public the reforms that the government will be implementing in the next year, along with timelines and responsible actors; the event was also the forum where the creation of an independent Civic Observatory was announced. The Observatory is comprised of more than 15 organizations in the private sector, academia and civil society that will monitor the implementation progress and impact of the reforms on the Dominican population.

Fostering Private Sector Led Growth In Belize

On July 30, 2013, Compete Caribbean approved a non-reimbursable, 18 month, technical cooperation agreement for USD392,300 to strengthen the Economic Development Council (EDC) in Belize.

The project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, is part of a larger group of activities that are being undertaken in Belize under the Compete Caribbean Program and sits firmly within a broader donor-coordinated effort to promote private sector growth with an aim towards creating an environment where Caribbean business thrives.

Through this project, Belize was welcomed into the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for the first time, and three members of Belize's National GEM team attended the annual meeting of GEM national teams in Santiago, Chile.

Other representatives from Belize were from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the Directorate of Foreign Trade and the Belize Agro-Productive Sector. This national team will be the coordinating body for the two entrepreneurship measurement tools, the Adult Population Survey (APS) and the National Expert Survey (NES). Read More

Additionally, through its Enterprise Innovation Challenge Fund (EICF), Compete Caribbean recently granted Belizean based cluster, Belize Shrimp Growers' Association (BSGA), USD500,000 to prepare for Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Certification and to improve its global competitive edge.

The cluster is also being used by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a flagship project in the region to lead the way in environmental standards. The ASC Certification is greatly respected worldwide and is regarded to be highly credible relying on metrics and science based standards. It is against this background that five of the shrimp farms in Belize united and formed the BSGA cluster.

Tackling Access to Finance In Jamaica

Compete Caribbean has supported the establishment of the new Secured Transaction Registry in Jamaica by providing valuable technical and financial assistance.

A Secured Transactions Framework allows borrowers to pledge movable property as security for a loan in a manner that removes ambiguity regarding the property that has been pledged, to whom the property has been pledged, and gives the lender the right to repossess those assets speedily in the event of payment default.

Under this transformative paradigm, financial institutions can now recognise movable property as security, as well as, traditional instruments such as land and property. Security interests will be noted on a public electronic registry which should substantially reduce the transaction costs and time of securing financing. Read More

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