InvesTT president Racquel Moses says if the investment promotion agency gets 50 solid leads coming out of Thursday's T&T investment promotion conference at the Council on Foreign Relations in Manhattan, it would be a "tremendous success."Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar leads a delegation of government officials at the conference, whose aim is to raise the investment profile of the country in New York.
"If we receive at least 50 solid, qualified leads, we will receive at least two investments that will close within the next two years," said Moses.The conference is being co-hosted by InvesTT and the National Gas Company.Among the agenda items will be plenary sessions on Investing in T&T, Economic diversification–Untapped investment potential and Amplifying natural advantage as a financial gateway for the hemisphere.
Planning Minister Bhoe Tewarie, Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine and Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran are also due to attend the conference along with several state enterprise executives.The Prime Minister will deliver the keynote address during what is being described as a networking luncheon. Following the conference, the local delegation will hold one-on-one meetings with corporate representatives and invited US officials.
Speaking in a recent interview, Moses said while T&T has made significant advances in making it easier to do business here, there is room for improvement in some areas that would make the path of investors even smoother."One of the big challenges we have is the assignment of land. Investors are looking for locations and we sometimes have a difficult time finding land for them," said the head of the country's investment promotion agency.
"We do have the Tamana InTech Park, the science and technology eco-business park located in Wallerfield, which is ideal for a particular kind of investor."There are investments for which Tamana would not make sense and when that is the case we need to be able to find the land and transfer it quickly and that has not been our experience."
She said InvesTT has lined up four major investments–a mall, a hotel, a high-end agri-processing enterprise and a major manufacturing entity–that are having issues getting the leases to State land assigned to them.If some of the Customs processes were simplified and speeded up, she said the thrust of investment in the non-energy sector would be facilitated.She also said that some of the procedures and processes for investors to access incentives also need to be streamlined.
"Even the way we offer incentives, when investors get into it, it is difficult to execute on an incentive offered by the Government because it is complicated. So we need to simplify access to the incentives that are being offered."One of the things that InvesTT does all day and every day, Moses said, is to simplify the incentives process for investors as much as it can.
"It is a great deal of heavy lifting on our side to simplify the process on the investors' side. We make calls and visit agencies in an effort to get things moving, but it should not be as difficult as it is and you really need an ongoing lobby with the Ministry of Trade," said Moses.She added that when the investment promotion agency finds a process that is really onerous, it works with the ministry to simplify the process.
This requires Cabinet approval, "which is not something that happens easily. It's a long and tedious process, but this is something that we are absolutely committed to."
About the Council
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, non-partisan membership organisation, think tank, and publisher.It was established in 1921, following WWI by a group of diplomats, financiers, generals, and lawyers who concluded that Americans needed to be better prepared for significant responsibilities and decision-making in world affairs.
The council on Foreign Relations was founded to "afford a continuous conference on international questions affecting the United States, by bringing together experts on statecraft, finance, industry, education, and science."
Considered to be the "most influential foreign-policy think tank" in the United States, the council is co-chaired by Robert Rubin, the former US Secretary of the Treasury and Carla Hills, who served as US trade representative (1989�93) under George HW Bush.Its board currently includes members like former US Secretary of State (2001-2005), Colin L Powell, former US Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright, (1997-2001) and Tom Brokaw.
The council publishes Foreign Affairs, "the pre-eminent journal of international affairs and US foreign policy."Its think tank, the David Rockefeller Studies Programme, is composed of about 50 adjunct and full-time scholars, as well as ten in-residence recipients of year-long fellowships, who cover the major regions and significant issues shaping today's international agenda.
The council promotes globalisation, free trade, reducing financial regulations on transnational corporations, and economic consolidation into regional blocs such as NAFTA or the European Union, and develops policy recommendations that reflect these goals.