All week, members of the DIT #Caribbean team have been hosting one to one meetings with a wealth of UK companies, to inform them about market opportunities for trade and investment – and how best to do business in the Caribbean.
Over 1000 companies in the UK have had the opportunity of enhancing their commercial growth in the Latin America and Caribbean regions by taking part in the annual Latin America and Caribbean Roadshow hosted by the UK Department of International Trade (DIT). For the first time this annual event has gone virtual with increased interest in many markets and in particular the Caribbean.
All week members of the DIT Caribbean team have been hosting one to one meetings with UK companies to educate and inform them of market opportunities for trade and investment and how best to do business in the Caribbean. Sectors of interest include clean growth including renewable energy and digitisation, infrastructure, medical and healthcare, food and drink and education.
On Thursday 4 March, this culminated in a presentation and discussion session led by the UK’s Commonwealth Caribbean Trade Envoy, Darren Henry with a key note address by Dr Peter Ramsaroop, CEO of Go Invest Guyana with a particular focus on the opportunities and advantages of building mutually advantageous trade between the UK and the Caribbean.
A questions and responses section included the advantages provided by the CARIFORUM-UK Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), now into effect from 1 January 2021 and signed by 14 members of CARIFORUM, with the Trade Envoy announcing that Suriname had just signed this agreement. Other topics covered how individual Caribbean countries are diversifying their markets, how fiscal incentives encourage trade and how key countries are opening up their markets to enable increased investment and trade.
Commonwealth Caribbean Trade Envoy Darren Henry said: “I’m focused on developing greater trading opportunities between the UK and the Caribbean and see trade as a key pillar to delivering mutual prosperity. The UK did £3.2bn of trade with the Caribbean last year and there are opportunities to grow this across a number of sectors.”