The Tribune

The third annual Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF), was launched yesterday atPort of Spain, Trinidad. CIF 2013 will take place on June 10-11 at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, and is expected to deliver two days of high level discussions on investment opportunities in the Caribbean.

Emphasising the forum’s mandate to attract potential investors was Vasant Bharath, Trinidad’s minister of trade, industry and investment.

Kelvin Mahabir, president of invesTT, said: “As a platform for face to face discussion, Caribbean businessmen and industry experts have the opportunity to showcase the competitive advantages that their businesses and countries have to offer to the potential investor. It is an avenue for direct engagement of international counterparts and a direct link to new projects and investment profiles.”

CIF 2013 will build on the success of last year’s forum, which welcomed more than 500 business persons and over 60 international, local and regional speakers to Trinidad and Tobago in an effort to develop industries with the potential for growth.

The targeted industries that will be the focus of parallel and plenary sessions at CIF 2013 include maritime, agribusiness, tourism, business process outsourcing, ICT, creative industries and energy.

The presentations will surround the 2013 theme: ‘Caribbean Competitiveness- The nexus of Innovation & Entrepreneurship’, and will provide real and imminent examples of opportunities for development and growth. Leading the international speakers will be Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry Homemade, who will present on successful business models.

The conference will highlight successful outcomes of CIF 2012, with a presentation by Jason Lindsay, managing director of Full Circle Animation. The animation sub-sector of the creative industries has benefited from the CIF model, and is poised for further growth with the announcement of an animation incubator project which was recently established.

This seeks to develop pilot projects of independent animators and the animation industry within Trinidad and Tobago, and will be elaborated further at CIF 2013 during the parallel session on the film industry.

Foreign participation and potential investors are expected from the US, CARICOM, Canada, UK, Poland, United Emirates, India, Korea, Ghana, South Africa, and in Latin America-Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.

Caribbean Investment Forum is the first event in a week of business activity in Trinidad and Tobago, and is followed by the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC). CIF 2013 is presented by invesTT, Trinidad and Tobago’s investment promotion agency.