Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli tops the bill of a stellar list of invited speakers who are due to address the two-day Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), which opens today at the Hilton. President Martinelle is due to join Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the morning session in a discussion on the bilateral relationship between T&T and Panama.
Up to Thursday, over 500 people had registered to attend the CIF, said Trade and Industry Minister Stephen Cadiz. The forum is expected to attract about from the English, French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean as well as from the Netherlands, Brazil and India and Canada.
Speaking last week about the CIF, Cadiz said: "There will be business people from these countries coming to T&T looking for business opportunities. We have over 40 speakers, out of which 30 are international, so this adds a very large international flavour to the event. It gets people into T&T to understand what is happening in the rest of the world, and allow these presenters to view T&T in a different way.
Plenary sessions of the CIF will focus on critical issues such as market access and investment financing, while parallel sessions will focus on key investment industries in the Caribbean, including: maritime, agribusiness, creative industries, clean technology, and ICT.
CIF 2012 is presented by invesTT, Trinidad and Tobago's investment promotion agency (www.investt.co.tt). invesTT's mission is to grow T&T's non oil and gas sectors significantly and sustainably. The CIF, which is reported to be an idea of Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, will be followed immediately by the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC), which begins on Wednesday and ends on Friday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.