There is no doubt that the two-day Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), which ended last night with a gala dinner and a spirited presentation by entrepreneur extraordinaire Sir Richard Branson, was a huge success.
The fact that the Government was able to attract a global business superstar of the calibre of Sir Richard, who writes a weekly column in the Business Guardian, is testament to the success of the forum. By being smaller and more intimate than the business forum which accompanied the Summit of the Americas, held in Port-of-Spain in April 2009, the Caribbean Investment Forum served its purpose of providing a bridge for businessmen between the Commonwealth and Latin America by exposing T&T to the world and exposing some international investors, bankers and technocrats to this country. As outlined by Trade and Industry Minister Stephen Cadiz on the first morning of the forum, "The Caribbean Investment Forum was designed to position the Caribbean as a conduit for investment between the Commonwealth and the America, by promoting business opportunities locally and across the region."
The forum included plenary sessions focusing on industry-specific discussions and presentations covering areas such as tourism, management of natural resources, renewable energy, ICT, agribusiness, food and beverages, manufacturing, maritime industries, sustainable construction and the creative industries.
Perhaps the most successful aspect of the forum was the networking opportunity it provided to local, regional and international businessmen. The regional investment forum also benefited from a stellar cast of sponsors-many of whom would have been responsible in the past for investing or working in the Caribbean.
The sponsors comprise the local state-owned energy company NGC, Brazilian construction giant Construtora OAS, software behemoth Microsoft, as well as Atlantic, BG Trinidad and Tobago, bpTT, ArcelorMittal and Petrotrin. But the Caribbean Investment Forum is only the first part of what has been dubbed Caribbean Investment Week 2011. The second part is the annual Trade and Investment Convention (TIC), which has been organised by the T&T Manufacturers Association with the support of corporate sponsors and government agencies.
TIC provides an opportunity for local, regional and international manufacturers and service providers to show new goods and services in an event that includes an exhibition, seminars, business-to-business meetings and presentations. With the Caribbean Investment Forum and the Trade and Investment Convention, the business groups and the Government seem to be doing their utmost to address the confidence issues that have plagued the local private sector.Speaking at the launch of the convention, past president of the Manufacturers Association, Greig Laughlin, said that the organisation recognised that in order to sustain more dynamic, export-led growth in the future, the manufacturing sector will need to be modernised and become more diversified-requiring additional foreign direct investment and technological change. "To facilitate this, significant improvements will be needed in the current local business climate as well as timely resolutions to the domestic factors which could continue to postpone the resurgence in business activity," and he was referring specifically to the resolution of the Clico issue and the worsening industrial climate.
The real test of the success of the forum, and the convention that starts today and continues until Saturday, is the extent to which they contribute to blowing away the dark clouds of doubt that hang over the country's productive sector. The events, meetings and networking of this week would be deemed a success if they are able to convince enough local entrepreneurs, or foreign businessmen in partnership with locals, to take the leap into new ventures or take the decision to upgrade their plant and equipment in the expectation of increased local and regional demand. If there is a measurable and sustainable increase in the production of the local non-energy manufacturing sector in the years to come, the investment in hosting the forum and the convention would have been entirely worthwhile.